Scarlett Swan
by Duessa
Summary: Bella and Edward have met before - a long time ago.  A very, very long time ago.  They are now to be reunited in the strangest of ways.  A romantic love story with a little mystery and the usual twist here and there. BxE
1. Chapter 1

There was once a girl who was swept forward by the sea. It was her particular destiny to be raised by a young woman named Renee Brennan, who was to be married to one Charlie Swan.

One summer day, Charlie's mother, Violet, approached the young Renee to tell her of her destiny in raising the child.

"How am I to raise a child?"

It was a valid question. Renee was only seventeen. She was Charlie's girlfriend of nearly a year, but neither of them was in any position to raise a child.

Violet explained to the young Renee that she must tell Charlie, the last week of the December of their high school year, that she was to be expecting a baby, and she was to tell him it would be his.

"Lie?"

Violet nodded her head, but then explained that it would only be half a lie, since they really would be expecting a baby and since it really was destined to be Charlie's. Renee wondered at how Charlie's own mother could ask such a thing of her: to lie to her own son this way, even if the woman did only consider it _half_ a lie.

"We all must play our parts well here, my dear."

Renee went home that evening, deciding with a heavy heart between whether or not she should lie to the man she considered to be the love of her life. After all, Charlie would never lie to her, so why should she lie to him? And what authority did his mother have to ask this of her anyway? Who, after all, had ever heard of a baby girl washing up from the ocean only to be perfectly fine? And where would such a child have originated in the first place?

It was a few days later when Charlie went fishing with a buddy of his from the Quileute Reservation that Violet invited Renee over to her home to once again ask this thing of her.

"I don't know if I can," Renee admitted. "I don't feel comfortable lying to your son. I love him."

"I love him too," Violet interrupted. "That's why we must do this thing. It is required for everyone's happiness."

"Why? Why do you believe that?"

"You know of the old lore around these parts, I think?"

Renee nodded her head. Indeed, she had heard many strange tales; each passed down through the generations and accepted by many of the older citizens of the small town to be the genuine truth.

"You've heard of _our_ family's origins then, haven't you?"

"I get them mixed up sometimes," Renee said. What she _wanted_ to say was that it was all a bunch of bogus fluff to her and that she didn't bother keeping track of which was whose story, but she wondered if that would be impolite of her. Violet was Charlie's mother, after all, and she didn't see the need to offend her needlessly.

"Our family legends recall that my husband's earliest parents came forth out of the Cygnus constellation, which is why they gave themselves that surname, and later changed it to Swan so as to modernize it."

"Your family came from the stars?"

"My husband's family did," Violet said matter-of-factly with a nod. There was no question that this woman seriously believed what she was telling Renee. "That means that Charlie's family did, whether he believes that or not. I know how it is with you young folks these days. There is little need to believe in all this, what would you call it? Hogwash. There is no need to believe in any of it. That's how my son feels, I know it. He thinks me a superstitious woman, which is why I can't ask him to take the child in. If he didn't believe that she was genuinely his, he would turn away from the responsibility. Adopting her would be out of the question, I'm sure of it. He would ask too many questions about where she came from and would always feel alienated by her being in his home."

"So you're asking me to make him believe that she is his actual flesh and blood daughter?"

"I know my son loves you so much, Renee, and that he would do anything for you. I know that he intends on marrying you."

"Then why not wait until after we're married to spring this lie on him? Why make him believe we are having a child out of wedlock?"

"There's not enough time, Renee. She has already been sent here. The time of her arrival is set and we must make it appear as though nine months pass before she is 'born.'"

"When you say _sent_ here, what do you mean by that?"

"You will find out soon enough, Renee. Will you agree to help my family by doing this thing? Do you love Charlie enough to do what is in his best interest, even if he doesn't know it himself?"

Renee sighed heavily, both in her heart and out loud. She couldn't explain what it was exactly that was compelling her to comply with this strange request, but she took a deep breath and said, "Yes, I will do this thing." She could feel in her heart that it was truly what was in the best interest of something greater than herself.

Months passed before it was time for Renee to tell Charlie that they would be expecting a child together. So much time, in fact, that the plans fell to the back of her mind and she nearly forgot about them entirely. It wasn't until that first day of December - the month that was decided upon in which to plant this lie - that Violet rang the doorbell of Renee's home.

"It's time to prepare yourself," she announced as Renee answered the door. "You have three weeks before you announce the news. Remember that you _must_ play your part well for everything to align properly."

Renee didn't bother asking any questions or asking for any advice. She had agreed to do this thing and when the plan was first concocted, she had even spent time practicing how she would break the news to Charlie.

The eventual day was very difficult for Renee. It was the day of the final exams at school before Christmas Break, and she decided it best if she waited to tell Charlie the news after the school day was over. She knew of his ambitions to get into the local police academy, and even if it didn't require a college degree, it still required his best effort. They would be looking at his transcripts, after all, and there would be a new baby to support soon enough.

"Charlie," Renee said softly as he walked her to the front steps of her house after school that December day. "Will you sit on the swing with me? There's some news I need to share with you."

Charlie was madly in love with Renee and gladly obliged her. He could sense that she was worried all day and he wondered if maybe she was going to break up with him and finally get out of this town once and for all in the spring, or maybe even sooner since she was set to graduate an entire semester early. She wouldn't be returning to school in January, but where would she go? It never occurred to him that she would actually fly out of here early.

In his heart he believed that Renee was too good a woman for him to keep for the rest of his life, and he had intended to ask her to marry him the moment they both walked across the stage with their diplomas in hand, but now he was afraid he might not even get that chance. He simply figured that all these weeks he'd carried the little velvet box that held the ring he would ask her to marry him with around for nothing. It was a ring that only he knew about; not even Violet was in on this surprise.

He brushed the thick layer of snow from the swing, and she sat on the down, and he gently pushed her. He adored the way the breeze flew through her hair and his heart broke at the thought of never seeing her this way again.

"It's not good news," she started.

His heart sank a little further and there was a strange, painful feeling in his throat he couldn't describe. He didn't know it was heartbreak because he'd never had his heart broken before. Renee was the only girl he'd ever loved and he was convinced that she was the only woman he ever _would_ love.

"Whatever you need to tell me, Renee, you can."

It was hard for him to get the words out; he was already braced to hear such painful words. But those words never came. They were entirely different than he thought they would be.

"I'm sorry," she began to weep. "I don't want you to stress out or be unhappy with me, but we have a baby on the way."

She would have been happier if it were actually true than to lie to him this way, even though the obvious stresses that came with an unconventional unplanned pregnancy would have been a great weight to bear as well.

She didn't know what Charlie's reaction would be, but she was certainly not expecting this. She felt him stop pushing her forward until the swing came to a complete stop, then he walked in front of her, dropped down to one knee, pulled a little red box out of his jacket pocket and said, "Renee Brennan, you are the only woman I can ever think to love in this world. I knew from the moment I met you that you were the one I would propose to someday, and well, today is that day; this moment is that moment. I can no longer wait to ask you, because I never want to lose you. I've dreamt of you saying yes for so long, so please, Renee, please say yes, that you'll marry me."

Her heart soared with joy at his words and she whispered through her tears, "Yes, Charlie. I would never tell you that I wouldn't. You are the only man I've ever dreamt of being with. Thank you for loving me no matter what."

With so much love in the air to give him strength, Charlie believed that now would be the best time for them to explain the situation to her parents, but Renee insisted they wait until after they were married. They would have a quick, small ceremony in the weeks to come after the New Year, and no one would ever have to know about their situation except for them. Charlie explained that he didn't want to lie to her parents this way, but she insisted that they keep this secret from them, asking him to do it for her. Though, the real truth of the matter was that she didn't want her parents to find out because they would surely take her to the doctor where she would be tested. If she took a pregnancy test and it came back negative, the entire plan would be shot before it could really begin.

And so, instead of telling her parents negative news they surprised them with positive news instead. Charlie had planned on speaking with Mr. Brennan in two days to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. He didn't explain to her father that those were his intentions for their meeting, but he was smart enough a man to have figured that out already, and so it was really no surprise to him to hear that his daughter was engaged, though he did wonder at Charlie's not asking _him_ for her hand first, as was the traditional way in that small little town of Forks. Renee's mother was happily surprised and neither of Charlie's parents were surprised at all, though they feigned the expected reaction. No one thought it odd that Charlie marry Renee while he still had a semester of high school to complete. They were both eighteen already, and Renee was technically done with that part of her life now.

Many months passed and Renee played her part well. Although the earlier months of the "pregnancy" were easy, she was able to convincingly pull off the stunt of looking nearly nine months along at the expected time. Violet helped her with this, of course. Neither Renee nor Violet knew of the exact hour that the baby would show up, but they knew the place where she would arrive. It was on a little section of the beach at the Reservation, and Renee insisted that he go fishing with his friend Billy as often as possible so that she could take her "regular walks" on the beach and enjoy what little time she had left to herself before she would be bombarded with all of the sudden expectations of motherhood. Really, though, she was always awaiting the hour when her daughter would arrive, and she knew she would have to feign labor. She had hoped that Charlie would be out fishing at this time, and be back in time to have "just missed the big event."

Renee got her wish. It was about six o'clock one evening in September when Violet met her at the beach. Charlie had agreed to go fishing with Billy at Renee's request, but he was worried that they weren't spending enough time with one another. He had been putting forty hours into the police academy each week since it started in June, and she was very much pregnant, or at least it seemed that way; yet, she promised him that she wouldn't go into labor. Ironically, that part _was_ actually the truth!

"It's time now," Violet said very seriously.

They waited by the water until the sun set entirely into the West, and that's when she arrived. Nothing carried the baby; no boat, no basket, nothing at all. She was swept in slowly as the tide began to be still, and there she was on the sand. Violet picked her up from the water and wrapped her in blankets she had brought with her, then handed her to Renee, congratulating her on her success so far.

The strangest part of all was not strange in the least to these two women. Both of them knew in their heart of hearts that this child's name was Scarlett, though neither had to say it out loud to confirm it. Each knew the other knew this fact.

"Come on," Violet said, rushing Renee away from the waters.

"Where are we going?"

"To Sue Decoteau's home."

"Harry Clearwater's fiancée? Why?"

"She is the one who delivered your child, Renee."

"No one else can be in on this secret! If Charlie ever found out…"

"He won't; I promise."

"Harry is one of his oldest friends. What if Sue tells him someday and he tells Charlie?"

"We must hurry. Charlie and Billy will be back soon."

They rushed to Sue's home where she welcomed them in immediately. Renee was worried that Charlie would find out about her lies and no longer love her. She wouldn't be able to bear it. A part of her wanted to come out completely and tell him the entire truth, but she was too far into the lies to be the one to rip them apart. Charlie would never understand why she would do this to him, and she even risked the love he had for his own mother, should he find out that she was in on the lie as well. Renee justified everything now based on that Charlie would be happier if he never found out than if he understood the truth, so she decided to remain silent on this matter forever.

"Hurry and change your clothes," Sue said quickly, ushering Renee back to her bedroom with the newborn child.

"Does she know everything?" Renee asked Violet in a whispered hush as Sue closed the bedroom door behind them to give Renee privacy in changing. She couldn't, after all, be seen in the exact same clothes that Charlie had left her near the beach in. She quickly recovered herself with a nightgown.

"She does," Violet confirmed. "But she is to be trusted entirely. Our families have been very close for generations, and she understands the need for this thing to be brought to pass. Don't worry, Renee. Her lips are sealed forever. Sue's promise is as solid as steel. There is nothing to be afraid of."

Renee climbed into the bed with the baby as she heard the front door open.

"Where is she?" Charlie was all in a panic.

"She's fine, Charlie," Sue said in a calm tone. "She and the baby are just fine."

Renee began to cry, though she wasn't exactly sure why. She trusted Violet and Sue to keep the secret, and she was happy to have this beautiful baby in her arms and had already promised herself that she would love her just as if she really were her own flesh and blood child.

"Renee," Charlie said, nearly busting through the bedroom door. "Are you alright?"

He noticed her tears right away and immediately felt guilty for having gone out fishing with his friends. He had known instinctively that tonight would be the night, though he relented at his wife's request to enjoy time with his buddies.

"I shouldn't have gone," he sighed sadly. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here for the big event. I swore to myself that I would be by your side."

"I'm fine, Charlie," Renee said, sweeping her tears away with the back of her hand. "I promise, I'm fine."

"Oh my God," Charlie breathed, "Is this her? Our daughter? She is so beautiful! Have you named her yet?"

Renee shook her head, yet she knew the child already came with a name.

"Let's call her Bella," Charlie pleaded. "Can we please? She is so beautiful and the name fits her, being that it means beauty."

"It's a wonderful name," Renee said, taking Charlie's hand in hers, letting him know that she was approving of the name.

The tiny thing's eyes opened, focusing on nothing in particular, then closed again.

"Look," he said with a smile, "She must recognize my voice! She opened her eyes."

Renee began to weep again, knowing that there was no way this little baby recognized her daddy's voice because she hadn't carried her in her womb these last nine months.

"Come, son," Violet said, taking the baby. "We must let mommy get some rest."

Violet and Charlie walked out into the living room where Charlie sat on Sue's couch and held his daughter for the first time.

"Is Renee alright?" he asked.

"She is fine," Sue insisted. "It's typical for women to be a little weepy just after delivering a child. This little case of the blues is something she will snap right out of. This is just how mommy hormones work." She added a little giggle for convincing measure, and Charlie bought the entire act, never asking a question about it for nearly two years.

…

Author's Note: Here lies the groundwork for a sweet little love story between Bella and Edward. I hope you will enjoy the little twists and turns along the way!

Additionally, here is my official disclaimer for the story: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended in any way. I have made up my own little story using the characters of Twilight, and I take credit for that. Although these characters are from Stephenie Meyer's imagination, I have taken artistic liberties in altering them in any way I see fit to mesh with my own story.


	2. Chapter 2

Life was so normal for the little family that sometimes it was easy for Renee to forget that everything about the foundation of their being a family was built on utter lies.

She was busy in the kitchen preparing Bella's second birthday cake when the phone rang. She set the mixing bowl on the kitchen table, leaving it full to the brim with cake batter.

Renee stepped out of the room with the phone so that she could check a receipt. It was Sue calling, wanting to know exactly how much she owed Renee for picking up some groceries for her the other day, and Renee needed to check the receipt in her wallet.

What Renee didn't know was that little Bella had her eye on that cake batter, knowing exactly how delicious it would taste in her mouth. She pulled at the table cloth so as to bring it nearer to the edge so that she might reach up and grab the bowl; however, she overshot how far she needed to pull – as young children often do in these situations – and the bowl began to fall to the floor. Renee walked back into the room as it was beginning to fall, and she expected it to crash onto the kitchen floor, but it never did.

No one _caught_ the bowl; that is to say, no one's hands caught it. But it didn't hit the floor. Instead, it simply hovered about an inch above it, on its side as to make the batter pour out, but the batter never dripped an inch.

That was the first time Bella's special abilities were manifest, as far as any eye witness knew.

"Bella?" Renee asked. "Are you doing that, sweetie?"

Bella ran out of the room, the bowl clinking against the floor as she did, and the batter spreading all over the linoleum.

Renee wasn't sure who to talk to about this. She originally wanted to call Sue because they were such trusted girlfriends, but she decided to call Violet instead. Surely she would know how this happened, being that she was the one who knew approximately when Bella would arrive and that it would be from the sea.

"You must pack up and go," was Violet's only response. "I'm sorry. I thought it would be years before these powers became manifest."

"What?" Renee gasped in horror. "We're not leaving. We can't leave. We don't have anywhere to go."

"That's not true," Violet said. "I've had a little place for the two of you set up before she was ever even, well, _born_. I knew this day would come sooner or later. I just thought it would be _later_ is all."

"You _knew_?" Renee was livid that Violet still thought it necessary to keep secrets from her after all she'd invested into this scheme. "Why can't you ever just be plain with me? Why can't you ever just tell me the truth?"

"You always know as much as you're allowed to know."

"_Allowed_ to know? Who do you think I am? I am that little girl's mother, and I deserve to know everything about her. You've kept things from me about her and now you expect me to just up and leave? How will I explain this to Charlie? What will he think when we go?"

"Leave that to me. I've already concocted everything. All you have to do is memorize a script."

"What are you?" Renee felt sick at the thought of having to once again lie to Charlie, and this time in a way that contradicted everything they built together. "A witch? A demon, maybe? What kind of monster would want me to tear my family apart?"

"You love this child, don't you?" Violet asked.

"With all my heart, but so does Charlie! He will never understand if we leave. His heart will break. _My_ heart will break. And this little girl will grow up without the wonderful influence of a strong, loving father. I will not do this to us. You've reached a point where you've asked too much of us. My answer is no. I will not."

"Charlie will find out about everything if you don't go."

"If I lose my husband either way, then I'll lose him because I've told him the _truth_; not more lies. I will not lie to him again."

"Then don't," Violet hissed. "Just go and say nothing and let _me_ do all the talking."

"I will not leave him."

"What if your child's life depended on it? Would you rather she stay here and die in Charlie's arms?"

"What are you talking about? Bella is entirely healthy."

"She won't be if her destiny isn't brought to pass. There are things at work you can't even begin to imagine, Renee. Her destiny holds more than what any of us can offer her. She is out of place here and always will be unless we do what needs to be done. You want her to grow up, don't you? And you want her to be happy?"

"But without a father?"

"She will always have Charlie. He will always love her."

"And what about _me_? Am I never to be happy?" Renee didn't feel at all guilty asking about her own welfare. She couldn't imagine a happy life without the love of her life by her side.

"I promise you that if you do all that is necessary to bring Bella's destiny about that you will have more happiness with Charlie than you can imagine at this time."

Renee knew Violet's words were the truth, even if she didn't want to hear them, or want to follow her plans.

"I don't know how I will be able to get through this," she wept.

"Get back to your house," Violet instructed. "You've got a birthday party to throw your daughter tonight. Tomorrow you leave. I have everything you need to get by: money, a house, a car, the works. All you have to do is take Bella somewhere and raise her the best you can. Things will not be as bad as you imagine they will be. You'll see."

Renee's heart ripped in two at hearing that tomorrow would be the darkest day of her life, and yet she knew in the core of her soul that what she was doing was actually somehow the _right_ thing to do.

"And you know Bella's real name, I know," Violet said. "You must never speak it aloud to anyone. You must never tell _anyone_ the name you heard in your heart the night she was brought to us, do you understand?"

Renee nodded her head because somehow, she _did_ understand this.

She returned home and prepared the cake, threw the party, kissed her husband goodnight and also goodbye for work, then packed her bags and left for Phoenix, Arizona where she would raise young Bella until she would blossom into a young woman.

…

Bella didn't remember the day she and her mother left Forks. She knew hardly anything of the small town except for what she learned two weeks out of every summer when she stayed there with her father. Her powers manifested up until she was about five, but then they went away entirely one day and she had no recollection of them whatsoever. Renee never discussed them with her and so she never developed a memory of having them.

"Are you ready to lick the batter off the spoon?" Renee asked her.

"Yes," Bella giggled, "Always."

This particular day was her fifteenth birthday, and it would also be the night that she first dreamt of Edward Masen.

She dreamt of him every night until her sixteenth birthday. By then, she began to sketch his image in a notebook every morning when she woke up. She knew that the time period of her dreams was not the current time in her real life, so she began to research the clothes they wore and the way they had their hair styled. From what she could make of it, Edward and Bella lived in the early 1900s. Well, Bella lived there too in a way, when she was dreaming. She despised waking up every morning because it felt like she could never get enough time with him. All day long, thoughts of Edward swarmed through her mind and she often found herself doodling his name in her notebooks with little hearts all around the letters, and sometimes she would think the name Scarlett as she wrote his name, but she never actually wrote the name down. There was something in her, like an instinct that told her not to. However, this was the name Edward called her in the dreams she shared with him.

By her seventeenth birthday, she had sketched his face over three hundred sixty-five times; at least once a day. But whereas the evening of her fifteenth birthday brought love into her life, the evening of this birthday brought despair.

She drifted off to sleep, excited to see Edward once again, but this time they were not strolling through a park or walking along the bank of a city river. This time he lay in a hospital bed, the room overcrowded and everyone coughing and feverish. She looked out the windows and noticed it was dark outside and that she was the only visitor among the many patients. She realized that she must have been permitted to see him because he was preparing to die this night. She sat by his side, stroking his hand, begging him to stay with her awhile longer. She couldn't stand the thought of seeing him die and suddenly she knew she was dreaming – she just _had_ to be, after all. Nothing this terrible could ever actually come to pass in her life, so she knew it was a dream. She willed herself to wake, but she couldn't. She was in-between her dream and her reality, and for a brief moment she actually felt her real body, though it was paralyzed – stuck in her bed.

"Please, Edward," she begged him as she drifted back into her dream, leaning over him to kiss his forehead. "Please don't die. I can't lose you. You're my true love."

"And you're mine," he said through dry lips, barely able to get the words out.

"I love you," she said, then began to cry.

"We'll see each other again," he promised.

She felt angry that he would say these things, wondering how he could believe it.

"Not if you die," she whimpered. "How can we see one another again if you die?"

"I won't die," he said, trying to squeeze her hand as best he could.

She noticed his lips were especially dry now, and she stood up and went to get him some fresh water to drink.

"I'll be right back," she said.

She noticed the doctor as she passed through the narrow rows of beds, all filled with sleeping patients. Were it not for their chests slowly moving up and down, she would have sworn that they were all already corpses. There was something very strange about this man, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it could be. Something about him reminded her of the bodies around her, but he was obviously very much alive and well. He was certainly alert.

A nurse assisted Bella in retrieving a pitcher of fresh water and a new, clean glass, but when she returned to Edward's bed, he was gone.

"Where is he?" she demanded, sobbing. "Where is Edward?"

"I'm sorry," one of the nurses said. "He is no longer with us."

"He's _dead_?" she asked.

Her heart, up until that moment, was running on hope. Now it was running on nothing at all, and it felt like it was withering up for good, never to blossom again.

"Edward," she murmured into the darkness, for the scene had faded away and all was empty and pitch black now.

Bella woke in the morning to her usual alarm, this time happy to be awake. She vividly remembered the dream and sketched everything about the hospital room, including the strange doctor. Before she had only ever sketched his face and hands, but never their surroundings. She regretted that now, wishing she had drawn up something of their past together, maybe the gardens they strolled through or the little shops they visited.

"Just look at me," Bella said to herself after her sketch was complete. "It was only a dream. All of this has only ever been a dream."

Still, though, she couldn't help grieving his loss. It was like someone in her reality really had died and she was going through all the motions of someone having lost a loved one. She went to bed that night hoping to dream of happier days with Edward, but her dreams were blank. They were without him for weeks when Renee asked to speak with Bella about something important.

Renee announced one night that Bella would go and stay with her father for the remainder of her school days. What Bella didn't know was that Renee received a call from Violet, telling her that it was time for Bella to return home. Renee had trusted Bella's grandmother with life changing matters since before Bella was her daughter, so that she again trusted the woman with something of this magnitude was typical by this point.

"Why can't I just stay with you?" Bella asked. She wasn't the type to argue with her mother, but she didn't understand why her mother would send her away like this.

"I would feel very guilty if Charlie didn't get to spend more time with you before you graduate," Renee explained.

Bella wasn't thrilled at the idea of going to live with Charlie in the small, rainy part of the world where she was told she was born. She was already having a difficult enough time adjusting to the loss of dreaming of Edward, and now her life would be flipped upside down even more. The thought of his loss again brought tears to her eyes, though she had never let them slip out in front of her mother before. She felt silly, but Renee felt guilty because she had no idea that the reason that her daughter was crying was because she had fallen in love with a boy from her dreams that she was no longer able to see. She imagined the reason she was crying was because she was being expected to do something she despised doing.

Bella agreed to go to Forks to spend time with her father, much to Renee's surprise. There were even times when she seemed excited about it, which if Renee was being honest with herself, it hurt her to see Bella even the tiniest bit happy to leave her. But she had asked her to go, after all – not that she actually wanted her daughter to go anywhere.

Bella decided to think of Forks as a new opportunity. As she boarded the plane to leave, she decided that she must also make an effort to leave the memory of her dreams behind too. She forced herself to realize that she will never again dream of Edward Masen and that had to be alright with her. As she took her seat on the plane, she longed to release her emotions, but couldn't find the energy to cry; she only suffered from the agony of a heavy lump in her throat.

Charlie was at the airport to pick his daughter up the Friday afternoon she arrived. By this time Charlie had been the Chief of Police in the small town and the surrounding townships for going on a few years. He was proud of his accomplishments, but always inwardly devastated that he had no one to share those achievements with. He never even thought of remarrying because he was still in love with the woman who left him nearly fifteen years earlier. He was a stoic man who let very little emotion slip through his tough skin, but everyone who knew Charlie couldn't be fooled. When he spoke of his daughter coming to live with him, he was obviously over the moon about it, no matter how hard he tried to hide that fact.

"Everything you shipped here arrived yesterday," he said as they went to grab Bella's two pieces of luggage. "I put it in your room. You just have to unpack it. You have the weekend to do it. I enrolled you in Forks High. You start Monday."

"I'm glad to be here, dad," she said, and Charlie felt the wetness begin to come to his eyes, but he huffed out loudly to get rid of them.

"And I'm glad you're here too, kid."

Bella understood the way her father was. She knew how happy her being here made him, and she was happy to see him so happy, though she was already beginning to miss Renee and the sunny home she left behind.

She spent the evening unpacking the ten boxes she had shipped. She was very meticulous in arranging her room just so, and once she was done she grabbed her notebook with her sketches. She couldn't help but look at the pictures of Edward she sketched. She ignored the one of the hospital scene. She could never bring herself to look at it since she drew it, and she hated the sharp memories that twisted her emotions when she thought of that awful night. She preferred remembering the happier days, especially the very first ones she ever drew. She looked out her windows and started sketching the trees, but gave up half way through. She'd never had a knack for sketching anything other than Edward Masen, and she knew he wasn't in the trees outside her home.

"He isn't anywhere," she sighed, "Except in my head."

Charlie knocked on her bedroom door a few minutes later. He explained that he was going fishing with some friends on the Reservation and asked if she would like to come down there with him. He said that a lot of the kids on the Reservation were getting together that night to tell ghost stories and roast marshmallows. Bella agreed to go, deciding that there wasn't really anything else pressing for her attention around the house.

Everyone on the Reservation already knew Bella. She was there almost every day that she visited Charlie in the summers, plus many of them remember how she was born in Sue's house.

"First baby I've ever delivered," Sue joked once, "And the last one too."

She recognized most of the kids sitting around the camp fire, but one in particular stood out: Jake Black.

He was Billy's son and Billy was Charlie's best friend, so it was natural that they hung out most of the time during those past summers; however, Jake wasn't there last time she visited. He was out of town staying with his sister, Rachel, who went to college in Seattle. He stayed up there the entire summer working a job to earn some money to save up to rebuild a car.

"Bella," Jake smiled as soon as he saw her. "I heard you moved into town. I'm glad we'll get to see more of each other. I was sad to miss you last summer."

"I'm happy to be here," Bella said with a blush. She knew that everyone had their full attention on her since she arrived there and the way Jake talked made it sound as if they were more than friends or something; a thing she knew would not go over well. She knew full well that every girl on the Reservation who wasn't related to Jake had their eyes on him. He was, after all, quite the stud.

Charlie and the other grown up men went out in the boats for what they called a midnight catch while the guys around the campfire tried their best to scare the girls and to scare one another with stories. One of the stories that stood out was called _The Legends of the Cold Ones_ and it involved some of the people who lived in Forks – a family known as the Cullens.

"Sounds a lot like vampires to me," Bella said when one of the boys finished his thrilling tale.

"Sounds _exactly_ like vampires," Jake laughed. "I guess you just have to ask yourself whether or not you're willing to believe in those kinds of things, huh?"

"What are you guys doing?" asked a tall, solid guy who was probably in his mid-twenties. He seemed angry for no reason.

"Just telling the usual lore," answered one of the boys named Quil.

"Yeah," said another named Embry. "No big deal."

"Did you forget that _she's_ among you tonight?" asked the tall guy.

Bella felt a flush of self consciousness immediately rip through her. She was embarrassed that she was singled out as an outsider, and she wished she could shrivel up and disappear without being further noticed.

"I think I need to get back to the house," Bella said quietly, obviously embarrassed by Sam's aggressiveness.

Jake immediately stood up to escort her.

"Don't worry about Sam," he said. "That guy's a total douche. He's been acting like he's bigger and better than everyone else here since he's turned all _beefcake_ on us. He may look threatening, but he's just a nineteen year old punk."

"Wait," Bella stopped him, "Sam is only nineteen years old?"

"Yeah," Jake scoffed, "But he acts like he freakin' runs the place or something. Those are our Tribe's legends, Bella; not _Sam's_ legends. We can share them with anyone we want."

"When did he go all, um, beefcake?"

"A few weeks ago. He shot up a foot and just got all muscley like that. If you ask me, I think he might be on steroids or something. That would explain the mood swings, I think."

Jake laughed to try to further break the tension, which sort of worked. Bella laughed too, trying to brush off Sam's rude attitude toward her. It was her first day here and she wasn't going to let the entire experience be ruined by one mean Res bully.

In fact, Bella returned to the Reservation on Saturday evening as well as on Sunday afternoon. Both times she hung out with Jake, who gave her tours of the trails and the beaches. As she walked across the waters, she felt a strange familiarity with the water, though she knew she'd never been there before – or at least that's what she believed.

She allowed the Reservation to become a sort of safe haven for her and decided that no matter what happened Monday at school, she could always come back here and have a true friend in Jake Black.


	3. Chapter 3

Bella arrived at school on Monday about an hour late. Somehow she had managed to sleep through her obnoxious alarm tone on one of the most important days to not be late somewhere. In her defense, she had been devastatingly tired that last few nights. She had stayed awake until the early hours of the morning due to the hard rain pounding against her roof. No one in the school's little office where she checked in mentioned her tardiness, though. They simply welcomed her with friendly smiles and said they were glad she would be joining them. She felt awkward being the new kid starting in the middle of a semester and she wasn't looking forward to the unnecessary attention that would automatically bring with it.

She rushed to her second class just before the bell rang and sat down quietly in the back.

"Excuse me," said a kind looking girl. "I'm Angela," she said, introducing herself."

"I'm Bella." She blushed for no particular reason.

"We have assigned seats in this one," Angela said politely.

"Oh, am I sitting in your seat?"

Angela was too afraid of hurting Bella's feelings to actually address the matter specifically.

"That's alright," said the kind girl. "I'll sit here, next to you. This one is vacant. I'm sure Mrs. Johnson won't mind. She'll see me when she calls roll and she'll understand that you're new here."

The teacher began calling roll before Bella had the opportunity to protest the nice gesture, so she sat awkwardly in someone else's chair knowing that she didn't belong there.

_Not off to a good start,_ she thought inwardly.

Angela and Bella became very good friends that day. Angela introduced Bella to several of her own friends at lunch and they were all excited to be sitting with the new girl, except for maybe a girl named Jessica. Bella could feel the jealous vibes rolling off of her, though she couldn't think of a reason she would have to feel threatened. After all, she was just some plain girl who landed up in some small town. And Jessica was very beautiful. Bella was surprised that she would be self conscious at all.

Everyone at the lunch table was very interested in what Bella's schedule looked like for the rest of the day. A boy named Mike Newton was thrilled that her next class would be Biology – his next class too, as it so happened to be – and he immediately volunteered to walk her there and help her get caught up with the latest lab. Jessica huffed at his offer, and on one except for Bella heard it and understood what it meant. Jessica obviously adored Mike, and he seemed to pay her no attention at all. It also just so happened to be that Biology was Jessica's next class too, and Mike was her lab partner, and she was the one who actually did all of the work. She never minded until now, when he was offering to give answers to _other_ girls – answers he wouldn't even have if it weren't for her.

The Biology teacher quickly escorted Bella to what he referred to as "the only remaining empty seat in the class," which Bella thought was odd because no one was sitting next to her when the bell finally rang. Mike pressed his luck trying to sit in the vacant seat, but the teacher insisted he sit with his own lab partner.

"But Cullen isn't even here today," Mike whined. Bella wondered if this name was referring to the same name that the boys on the Reservation told tales about. "He shows up only half the time anyway, and I thought I could give Bella some tips on the latest assignment."

"I'm sure Miss Swan will do just fine on her own. She comes to us from an advanced placement class in Arizona. She's probably already done this lab already anyway. You would be better off sitting with Jessica, Mike."

Bella blushed at the teacher's singling her out with what was a compliment, and she felt embarrassed that everyone started making a big deal about how she was smart. Bella finished the lab in half the class period – a lab that took everyone else the previous day and this entire class period to finish, and even then, some of the students would need an extension on time tomorrow.

"So you've done this one before?" questioned the teacher, looking over Bella's work that she handed in.

"No," she nodded, "But I've done similar ones."

"Impressive," he said, slipping her work into one of the paper slots to grade it later.

Bella blushed again and hoped no one heard him compliment her work. She was a terribly shy girl, and had a terrible case of the first day jitters, along with a terrible lack of sleep.

"Perhaps your lab partner will return tomorrow," he added, casually.

"Is he not normally here?"

"He is a lot of the time, but Dr. and Mrs. Cullen often pull their children out of school for a few days at a time or so. They're all top-notch; don't get me wrong. They are all very bright, gifted children. That's why they pull them out, I imagine. They always have their work done early and it's always flawless. Dr. Cullen probably wishes his son to follow in his footsteps one day, so he sends him to seminars and the like to prepare him for college early. I believe he is at an Anatomy lecture today, if I remember correctly. The two of you will get along perfectly well, I should think, judging by your performance today."

Bella gave little thought to what her lab partner would be like and focused the rest of the day on getting home. Jake Black and his dad were coming over to watch the game and Bella was excited to see her old friend. They had become very close in just the last few days, maybe even to the point that they would be best friends. Bella had never had someone in her life that she considered a best friend before.

Bella didn't realize it, but Jake was beginning to consider working up the nerve to ask Bella out on a date. He had only been on a date once, and it was a lousy double date that his friend Embry talked him into going on so that Embry could get a girl to go out with him. Jake's date was disgusting, as Jake would put it. Even though several of his buddies drooled over this girl, he thought she was stuck up and rude to anyone she didn't consider good-looking, and that was a quick turn off for Jake. He loved that Bella was genuine and kind, and he'd never liked a girl the way that he liked her before.

He couldn't find the nerve to do it that night, mostly because his father and her father were in the same house as them. He decided he would find a reason to invite her somewhere out of the house, as a friend, and ask her there. Maybe the store? Maybe the park? He would think of the perfect spot eventually; he was sure of it. And of course she'd say yes, right? After all, they were becoming pretty good friends and he thought she seemed to feel very comfortable around him.

The next day, Bella was still without a lab partner. However, she was not lacking all of the boys' attention. Everyone was asking her out to a dance on Friday. She had seen posters for the event posted all over the walls yesterday, but didn't think twice about it. Today she was being bombarded by half the male population of the high school.

Jessica overheard Mike asking her to the dance after school had ended, which made Bella worried that Jessica would be out to get her in some way. She noticed Jessica eavesdropping two lockers down from hers, and Mike was asking in a very bold manner, confident that Bella would say yes. Jessica slammed her locker and walked off before she could hear Bella politely decline his offer. She'd already told well over a dozen other boys that she would be out of town that Friday, and she didn't want to say yes to anyone even if she did want to go to the dance because she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

"Where will you be?" Mike asked.

Bella hadn't prepared an answer to that question; no one, as of yet, had asked her this.

"I'll be in Seattle," she lied.

"Can't you go to Seattle a different weekend?"

Bella was a little annoyed that Mike was pressing the issue. Couldn't he just accept that he'd been declined and move on like everyone else?

"I already have everything arranged. I'm sorry Mike. Maybe another time."

"Like, we could go see a movie or something?"

"Sure. Sometime." Bella quickly walked off before he had the opportunity to try to set anything in stone. She rushed to her the truck her father was loaning her and hurried home.

Bella spent most of her time that evening studying for upcoming tests. She didn't want to ask to be excused from any of them just because she was new. At about eight-thirty, after it was already dark, she wondered to the fridge for a glass of milk only to notice that they were completely out. She didn't _want_ to drive to the store this late at night, but she decided it would be best if she picked up a few other things as well. She could definitely use some new chapstick. The weather here was really killing her lips and she couldn't keep from biting her bottom one any longer.

She left a note for Charlie, explaining where she'd gone, though she knew he wouldn't be home until long after eleven that particular night. She carefully drove to the little market in the center of the small town and slung a shopping basket on her arm. She wandered through the aisles aimlessly, picking up random things as she went along. It took her awhile to get to the aisle where the chapstick was.

She was in the diligent process of deciding between Cherry and Plain when she heard a guy and a girl giggling an aisle over.

"I don't see what is so funny, you too," said a woman.

"It's a play on words, Esme," the guy explained. "Alice, tell her."

"I get the wordplay," the woman named Esme said. It sounded like she was rolling her eyes. "What I don't understand, however, is why anyone would think it's funny. It's hardly clever."

They rounded the corner to Bella's aisle, the woman pushing a cart and the guy and girl tossing all kinds of stuff into it. Bella almost gasped as she saw the boy. He looked exactly like the boy from her dreams – the one she had been in love with for so long. She never imagined that there was someone out there that looked exactly like him!

Bella realized that they were looking at her, and she tried to look away from them – back at her chapstick, if possible – but it wasn't possible. She couldn't stop staring at the boy and she hoped that her mouth was closed at least. She hated being caught in this embarrassing situation.

"Hi there," said the girl who Bella figured was named Alice by conversation she had overheard just seconds earlier.

"Hi," Bella said.

"I'm Alice. You must be the Chief's daughter? We heard you were coming to town."

"Yeah," Bella replied, trying to remember how to talk. "I'm Bella."

"This is my brother Edward and our mom, Esme Cullen."

Edward? His name was _Edward?_

"Um, Esme Cullen as in, the doctor's wife?" Bella asked.

"That's right," Alice chirped kindly.

Did that mean that Edward was her lab partner, then? Was he the one who was always missing school? And did this mean that she would get to sit next to _him_ tomorrow?

She noticed that Edward was looking at her in a strange way, like he was concentrating very hard on listening to her, as if maybe she was speaking too quietly. But how could he be straining to hear her when she was obviously not even talking? Was he maybe waiting for her to say something? What should she have said? That she has been dreaming of him for years? That would have freaked him out to no end, Bella was sure.

"Well, I guess we'll get to see each other tomorrow, Bella," Alice said. "Looking forward to getting to know you better."

"Bye," Bella said, still trying to turn away to look at anything other than Edward Cullen.

Edward broke his stare and turned to walk off with his family, and Bella thought she might pass out. It took her a moment to recover before a million questions started swarming her. Was he staring at her as she was staring at him because he had dreamt of her before? How long had Edward lived here in Forks? Did they know one another as children somehow and that's why his first name and image was concocted by her imagination and pressed upon her in her dreams? She thought she would have remembered him if she'd met him before, and Alice didn't act like they'd ever met her before, since she introduced themselves the way strangers would have. What did all of this mean?

The questions didn't stop through the night. It didn't help that the rain was still pounding away above her, nor did it help that she was very nervous about sitting next to him tomorrow. She pulled out the notebook with her many sketched of Edward Masen and studied his likeness, comparing it against Edward Cullen's. They were identical. Come to think of it, they even sounded the same! But how did Edward Cullen get into her dreams all those years ago?

It was a long time before Bella could fall asleep. When she finally did, Edward crept into her room. What Bella didn't know was that all of the Quileute's legends of the Cold Ones were true, and that Edward Cullen was a part of those legends.

He knew there was something different about Bella as soon as he didn't hear what she was thinking in the grocery store earlier that night. He'd never met a single person – human or vampire, or anything – whose mind he couldn't read. It wasn't his intention to break and enter into the Chief of Police's house, but he simply couldn't help himself, and besides, he knew he wouldn't get caught.

Everything about her room seemed normal enough. It was pretty much exactly like what he imagined a teenage girls' room to be. But something was off. He was drawn to a notebook on Bella's bedside table, and he picked it up, hoping it wasn't her diary or anything like that. He didn't feel guilty secretly prying his way into her bedroom while she was sleeping, but he probably would feel guilty reading her most intimate thoughts laid out on paper, meant for no one to read. At any rate, that guilt wouldn't have kept him from reading the words if it actually _was_ her diary, anyhow.

He opened to the first sketch and was taken aback by what he saw there.

_Did she sketch this tonight_, he wondered to himself.

He turned to the second sketch, then to the third, and then he scanned through all of the images and it was confirmed that she had definitely _not_ sketched these tonight. There simply would not have been enough time. He thumbed through them again, then noticed some doodles on the back: _Edward Masen_, surrounded by hearts.

Edward Masen? How could she have known his real name? No one, except Carlisle and the rest of his family, knew his real name. This was impossible. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she could have come across this information.

He wished that he could have taken the notebook with him to show his family, but if he did then she would know that someone had been in her room. So he forced himself to put it down, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from her. He stared at her all through the night, hiding himself only once when her father entered the house and opened her bedroom door to check on her. Finally, when the sun rose over the little rainy town, he thanked his lucky stars that the clouds were overcast.

"See you later at school," he whispered, then left the room smiling to himself.

He was bound and determined to figure out what mysteries lie in wait for him to solve in the quiet mind of one Miss Bella Swan.


	4. Chapter 4

Edward would _not_ be deterred by the silence of Bella's mind. He would find a way to figure her out, though he might not be able to crack _this_ code from a distance. He simply thought of this task as a challenge – a thing he'd never encountered from anyone before, and this fact only made him all the more excited.

Making any further attempt to read her mind was out of the question; he'd already concentrated as hard as he could, trying to penetrate any weakness she might have, but there was none to be found. The only solution was to actually _ask_ her questions – a thing he had seldom done with a human. Honestly, he had never been too particularly interested in the answers anyone would give anyway since he never bothered getting attached to anyone. Plus, he always knew how everyone would answer before he even planted a question, so why bother asking anyone anything? But this was not the case with Bella.

Edward rushed home to his room to mull over this new mystery that had moved to town just after he left her bedroom. There were a few hours to wait before heading off to school. He knew he had to keep quiet about her notebook; there was no way he would get away with asking any direct questions about that little artifact. But what _does_ one ask a human when trying to get to know it? And did this human already know all about him? How could she have? He nearly drove himself crazy with questions he had no answers to for those seemingly endless hours. He rejoiced when it was time to get ready to go. He could hardly wait to discover what others at the school had already figured out about her. Any information about Bella Swan would be regarded as a piece of the puzzle to Edward.

He ran into Carlisle as they were both leaving for school and for the hospital.

"Carlisle," Edward asked as they were both walking to their cars, "What do you know about the Swan family?"

"Hmm," Carlisle said, collecting his thoughts mentally, but Edward caught each one as it came to his mind. He already knew that Carlisle would not be a help in providing answers to his many questions, but he listened to his response anyway, out of respect. "They are one of the founding families of this area. They go way, way back here. They were the first ones to meet the Quileutes, even before we first roamed this area. Charlie's great-great grandfather was the one who surveyed the land around these parts. They tamed this region almost a decade before people really started moving in."

"What else about Charlie Swan? Other than that he's the Chief of Police."

"Why do you ask?"

"His daughter," Edward began, but he didn't know quite how to put it. "She, well, do you know anything about her specifically?"

"Charlie used to be married to a woman named Renee. I've never met her personally, but I've heard a great deal about her. She simply disappeared from Charlie's life one day."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just after Bella turned two years old, she packed their things and left Charlie, never offering him so much as an explanation. The poor man was devastated. That's the official town talk on the matter, anyway. No one would have expected this to happen between them. The reason she left remains a mystery, to Charlie even, so the story goes. He was always good to her and his daughter. No one has ever suspected abuse or that sort of thing."

No real answers here; at least, none that would give any reason as to why Bella would be sketching him or how she could have known his real name.

"Thanks," Edward said, clipping the conversation to its end point.

"Have a good day, Edward."

"You too."

As he drove to school, he wondered how best to approach the girl. He didn't want to scare her, and he was known for keeping to himself. What kind of attention would he draw if all of a sudden he was buddy-buddy with someone? He didn't want people to get the wrong idea – he was _not_ here to make friends; just here to blend in for the sake of normalcy. He laughed at that idea. What had he – or anyone in his family, for that matter – known of normalcy since they'd been changed into vampires?

He tried to remember back to his former life, but it was a difficult thing to do. Everything from the past seemed so vague, like maybe none of it had ever happened at all. He remembered a little of what it was like to wake from a strange dream, and when he woke with his new eyes as a vampire for the first time, that's what his entire human life had felt like – a strange dream that he was waking up from. He remembered mourning over the loss of certain pieces of it, but he could never quite remember what those pieces were. It was like they just disappeared one day. But in his heart, he still longed to remember something, though he didn't know what it might be.

He watched Bella Swan throughout the day, through the eyes of the other students, as had been his plan. The disadvantage of this maneuver was that he couldn't actually ask her anything _he_ wanted to know, and could only perceive others' impressions of the girl. He wanted to get to know her for himself, but how should this be done?

He discovered that they would share the same lunch period, and maybe that's when he should make his move? He decided that's what he would do until he overheard Jessica Stanley talking with Bella about the Biology lab coming up that day.

"You're partner is here today," Jessica told Bella. "I saw Edward in the hall this morning."

"I figured he would be back," Bella said. "I met him last night at the grocery store; him and his sister Alice."

"Watch out for that one," Jessica snickered.

"What do you mean?"

"That Alice is a loon! I think she must be spacey or something."

"I thought she was nice," Bella said, coming to his sister's defense. There was something admirable in this gesture that he liked, and he decided that Bella must be a good person to stand up to someone she depended on socially to defend someone she'd only met once in passing at a grocery store.

"Well, get to know her a little more and you'll see she's batty. See you at lunch."

"See ya."

Edward enjoyed the idea of having Bella as a lab partner. It would give them a little over an hour each day to talk to one another. Over the course of time, that ought to give him several opportunities to find things out about her. And no one would think it odd that he talked to someone he sat next to in a class and was expected to share lab work with.

He sat with his own family at lunch, never approaching Bella once. However, Bella did catch him staring at her that same funny way several times from across the cafeteria. Edward was giving the idea of cracking any weak spots in her internal monologue one last chance, but he was only becoming all the more frustrated with the failure.

"What do you know about the Cullens?" Bella asked Angela in a whisper.

"The Cullens?" Jessica asked loudly, her mouth half full of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She was quite obtuse about these sorts of things, not realizing that Bella was trying to discover information about Edward in a covert manner.

Not that whispering would have helped any; Edward could hear everything they were talking about very clearly no matter how they might have kept their voices down. He was relieved to hear her speak, and felt a strange sense of pride that she was asking about _him_ in a way. He enjoyed the way his last name rolled off of her tongue as she asked her question.

"Well, they moved here over the summer," Angela half-whispered back. She had to speak loudly enough for both Bella _and_ Jessica to hear, since Jessica invited herself into the conversation and Angela didn't want to be rude by pushing her out of it.

"And they're _freaks_," Jessica added, not bothering to lower her voice in the least. "They stomp around this school thinking they're too damn good for anyone. Especially that Edward! He's single, but he acts like we're all the freaking plague or something." In her heart, Jessica was jaded. She had racked up enough nerve to ask Edward out once, and he simply walked away saying nothing. It wasn't his particular intention to offend her so, but he hardly cared that he did.

"They're probably pretty nice," Angela said, interrupting Jessica's hissing pissy-fit. "Their dad is a doctor. He's a very respected man in this community. He saves a lot of lives at the hospital, and from what I understand, he really cares about his patients' wellbeing. I don't imagine a man like that can raise kids that are too awful. Plus, I know that Mrs. Cullen is really nice. She's always seen around town, volunteering at the shelters and that kind of thing. Just because Edward isn't interested in dating doesn't make them terrible people."

That shut Jessica up, and she turned red, embarrassed that she let herself get all worked up just a moment earlier.

"He sure seems to have an interest in _you_ though, Bella," Angela added, trying to hide her smile.

"Why do you say that?" Bella asked.

"He hasn't stopped staring at you since you entered the room."

"Does he not often stare at people?"

"He doesn't often look at anyone for any length of time."

"I wonder what he wants?" Bella really did wonder this.

"I guess you'll get to find out in Biology next hour. He is your lab partner, you know."

Bella felt a shiver of excitement roll up her spine. She was very happy to have an opportunity to spend some time with the boy who looked identical to the true love in her dreams. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, but how would she bring them up without sounding completely crazy?

"I wouldn't put too much stock into that idea of Angela's, Bella," Jessica said boldly. "I would just hate to see you get your heart's hopes up. You're setting the bar too high with that one." What Jessica had really meant to say was that she would hate it if Edward and Bella ever went out on a date because even though she had a soft, possessive spot in her heart for Mike Newton, she really fantasized day and night of being the apple of Edward's eye. If Edward ever showed any romantic interest in Bella, she would simply freak out and die.

Bella dumped the contents of her tray in the trash as the bell that ended the lunch period rang. She realized that she'd hardly eaten a thing, probably from all the butterflies in her stomach. She rushed to Biology as quickly as she could, but she was cut off her path midway by Mike Newton.

"Hey Bella," he said in the studliest manner he could muster. He sounded ridiculous.

"Hey Mike. We'd probably better hurry, huh? We don't want to be late." Bella could feel that _I'm-gonna-ask-her-out_ vibe rolling off of him, and she didn't want to keep being made to feel like the bad guy for rejecting dates.

"Hey, actually, I was going to ask you about seeing a movie sometime. You said you'd like that."

Bella knew that she didn't go so far as to say that she'd _like_ to do anything with Mike, and she realized that he was trying to plan a date and make it sound like it was her idea.

"Oh, there aren't a lot of flicks out I'm really interested in right now. All the good ones come out in the summer, you know."

"And around the holidays too, which are coming up pretty quick. But if not a movie, maybe dinner? I know a great little place I'll bet you'd like a lot. A lot of girls like it, I mean, not that I take a lot of girls out or anything, but from what I hear from my buddies, their dates really like the place a lot, and I thought I'd take you there sometime."

Just then, the bell rang making both Bella and Mike officially late.

"We'd better get a move on, don't you think?"

Mike was not going to give up so easily. He'd dreamed up this little asking her out bit last night and waited all day for this opportunity to arrive, and he wasn't letting her go to class without getting an answer one way or another.

"There's someone else," Bella stated matter-of-factly.

"You… have a boyfriend?" Mike sounded crushed.

Additionally, Edward _felt_ crushed at those words. He had been listening in on the whole conversation, knowing of Mike's plans to pull this little stunt.

"It's not that I have a boyfriend. I don't." Both Mike _and_ Edward felt relieved to hear that. "What I meant was that there is someone else for _you_. Don't you see that Jessica is pining away over you? Why don't you ask her out? I know she wants you to."

"She does?" Wow. He must have been as dense as a stone.

"She does," Bella confirmed. "You're lab partners, right? Now would be a perfect time for you to ask her."

Both of them walked into the classroom and excused themselves for being late. Jessica shot Bella an evil stare and followed her all the way back to where her seat was before breaking the _I hate you_ gaze. She didn't yet know that Bella swayed Mike to ask _her_ out and was still under the impression that Bella was her enemy.

"Edward, this is your new lab partner, Bella. She is very intelligent and I'm sure the two of you will get along quite well." Bella blushed once again because of her teacher's compliments. Edward delighted in the way the blood pooled in her cheeks and he thought to himself, _My God, she is so pretty_.

Edward was suddenly nervous for some unknown reason as he sat next to her. He hadn't planned on feeling like that. He had a hard time getting the words out.

"I'm Edward Cullen."

"I know. We met last night in the grocery store. Your sister, Alice, introduced you. It's nice to meet you by the way."

"Was that the first time we met?" Edward asked.

"Yes, I think so. I mean, I can't remember having met you before."

"It does seem like we've met before, though, doesn't it?" Edward wondered if he was pushing it a little too far this early in the conversation.

"Maybe," Bella said.

_Maybe?_ Edward wondered the question sarcastically in his mind. _She has hundreds of sketches of _my_ face, and she says, "Maybe?"_

"We're in the middle of this chapter here," Edward said calmly, reaching for Bella's textbook and opening it to the appropriate page.

"Oh, I know how to do this lab," Bella sighed. "It's quite tedious."

"I have the first half done," Edward said proudly, wondering why he was so happy to have a way to please this girl.

"You've already done this much?" Bella asked, looking over Edward's notes. "You must work very fast with a calculator, then. These numbers always take me forever to punch in."

Edward didn't want to reveal that he didn't require the assistance of a calculator, so he reached into his backpack to pull it out when Bella was distracted with copying down one of the questions from the lab book and pretended to use it for the rest of the lab.

Edward watched her write and admired her handwriting. He suddenly felt taken aback, as if he recognized her writing from somewhere – somewhere other than from when she wrote his real name around the sketches in her notebook. Had they, in fact, really met somewhere before?

"So, where did you live before moving here to stay with your dad?" Edward tried to be as casual in asking as possible, but where his heart should have been beating, there was something there racing, demanding an answer as soon as possible. He was aching to know everything about her.

"I lived with my mom in Phoenix. We had a neat little house there. I love where I grew up."

"And what brings you here now?"

"I'm not really sure. My mom wants me to spend more time with my dad before I graduate, and I wouldn't normally have agreed to come here, but I guess I felt drawn here, if that makes any sense?"

"I get what you mean," Edward said with a smile. Indeed, a part of him knew exactly what she meant by being drawn to something because he was beginning to feel that he was being drawn to her.

"So where did you guys live before your dad moved you all here?" Bella decided that it was only polite to return his well-meaning question with one in return.

"Oh, we uh, lived further north. In Alaska, actually."

"It seems like you guys have a real thing for living in remote places, huh? I've heard many wonderful things about your dad's talents as a doctor. I wonder why he doesn't move to a more populated area so he can help more people?"

"Well, like you said, we have a real thing for living in remote places. We like the peace and quiet that comes from living in small towns. But _you_ – you came from a pretty heavily populated area. How are you adjusting so far?"

"It is really _small_ here." Edward wondered if it was sadness that Bella was feeling, and he yearned to place his arms around her and kiss her. He had to snap himself back into reality! "And it's not very sunny."

"I like that about this place," Edward said, hoping he hadn't just given too much away.

He didn't mean to say it out loud, but there was something familiar about Bella and deep in his mind he trusted himself to be able to talk with her about anything. He instinctively knew that she would be understanding, but he scorned himself for thinking of letting himself become too relaxed around a human. What would his family think of this? They would be furious with him if he ever betrayed their sensitive secret.

That was the extent of their conversation that day.

Bella analyzed her dreaming of Edward Masen and why he looked like Edward Cullen until she fell asleep that night, and Edward was excited when the lights in her room finally went out. He only waited a few moments before no longer being able to resist the urge to enter her bedroom.

He saw the notebook again, but this time it was on top of her desk. He opened it up and rummaged through the sketches again. He turned to the last page this time, not realizing he had missed a sketch last night, and he couldn't believe his eyes! There was the hospital room where he had "died." He knew for certain it was the same hospital room because standing in the center of the drawing was Carlisle! How had she known about this scene – the final scene of his mortal life?

Edward remembered back to that night as best he could. He remembered feeling faint and thirsty. Someone had gone to get him a drink of water, but they never came back. He was looking for that person, waiting for them to return, when Carlisle stood over him with a sorrowful look in his eyes. He couldn't piece anymore of that night together on his own, so he relied on Carlisle's account of what happened. Carlisle took Edward away and bit into his neck. The last thing that Edward said, according to Carlisle, was regarding the color of his own blood: "Scarlett." He said that Edward repeated the word over and over while his body was changing for those three unbearable days until he finally woke, never to sleep again.

There were now more questions than ever for Edward to ask; more answers he _needed_ to find. Nothing would be complete in his life until he discovered the meaning of Bella's hidden riddle.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day was very difficult for Edward. He'd wrestled with himself in his mind all night and all morning. He couldn't believe that he was about to do this. Neither could his family – except for Alice, who was thrilled that Edward was taking this social step forward.

"Hi there," Edward said to Bella, offering to carry her lunch tray for her.

"Hi Edward." Bella wondered why he was approaching _her_. So did everyone else in the cafeteria.

"I was thinking you might like to sit with me today, if that's alright."

"Okay."

Bella didn't know if it would be polite or not to ask why he wanted to sit with her, so she just followed Edward to a small, unoccupied table and sat down across from him. Edward didn't say anything for a few moments, and he knew he was blowing this by allowing so much awkward silence to pass between them. Bella started fidgeting in her seat, self-conscious because she wasn't sure whether or not she was crunching her carrots too loudly. If there was one around, Bella would have been able to hear a cricket chirp.

"They're putting up _more_ posters?" Bella asked, referring to the glittered posters advertising the school dance tomorrow night that members of the Student Council were taping up all throughout the lunchroom. The posters had pictures of faces with masks and such, and she gathered from them that this would be a masquerade ball. She was grasping at straws to find something to talk about, and this, she just blurted out casually. "I'm pretty sure everyone knows about it by now. It's all anyone has ever talked about since I got here on Monday, anyway."

"It's a small town," Edward replied. "I suppose there is very little to get excited about around here."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Are _you_ going to the dance, by chance?" Edward already knew that Bella had turned down all of the offers, but he had to bring up the idea to fulfill his plan. Fortunately, she already commented on the posters for it, but he was worried that she sounded annoyed at the idea of a dance rather than excited. Since he couldn't read her mind, he had no way of knowing if he was on the right track or not.

"No."

"I'm sure you've been asked, though?"

"Um… no." Edward knew that was a flat out lie. He smirked, and Bella blushed, wondering if she'd been caught in her lie.

"That's surprising. Well then, would you like to go with _me_?"

"To the dance? Tomorrow?"

"Yes. To the dance. Tomorrow."

"Um, I don't know if I can. I mean, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

"Why should anyone's feelings be hurt?" What Edward meant to say was that he didn't give a rat's ass about any of the other boys' feelings and hoped that what they thought or felt wouldn't influence her decision about going out with him.

"Remember when I said I hadn't been asked out?"

Edward nodded, trying not to smile.

"Well, that's not exactly, um, _true_."

"Gee, you don't say," Edward said, trying not to sound sarcastic. He didn't want her to think he was a jerk, but even if he didn't have the ability to watch others ask her out, it was apparent by her blatant beauty that the other poor saps wouldn't have been able to help themselves.

"Yeah, see, the thing is, I told some people I'd be out of town this weekend."

"_Some_ people? As in more than _one_?"

"Yeah. I'm so sorry I lied to you, Edward. But in all fairness, I didn't think that _you_ would actually ask me to go with you."

"Why not?"

"I didn't think I could be _your_ type, I guess."

"And why shouldn't an intelligent, beautiful young woman be _my_ type?"

"That's not what I meant. I just, um…"

"So now that I've asked, I'll need an answer, Miss Swan. I'll understand if _I'm _not _your_ type. You don't have to tell me you'll be out of town or anything."

Bella blushed and held back her giggle just barely. "I would love to go with you, Edward. But I don't know where I'll find a dress by tomorrow night."

"I might be able to find someone to help you out with that." Edward knew from Alice's mind that previous night that she wouldn't let anything keep her from getting involved with something that Bella might be _wearing_ to the dance if she accepted Edward's offer today.

As if on cue, Alice approached the pair.

"Speak of the devil," Edward mumbled.

"Hey you two," Alice chirped brightly. "It's nice to see you again, Bella."

"You too," Bella said.

"Gee, have you seen all these posters for the dance?" Alice asked. "Are you going, Bella?"

"Oh, um…" Bella couldn't help but blush.

"The reason I ask is that I have this dress and a mask to match it. I was going to wear it, but then I found a different dress, and I was just thinking from across the room as I noticed the lovely shade of your hair and the soft pink in your cheeks that _you_ would look sensational in it. I mean, I understand if you already have something picked out…"

"Actually, I think I'll take you up on that offer, Alice," Bella said quickly. She thought it was such a generous offer and she would have hated to pass it up, mostly because she didn't want to make time to go shopping for a dress and then have to find, or even worse, _make_ a mask to go with it.

"Excellent," Alice said. "Maybe you'd like to come try it on tonight?"

"That'd be great."

Mike Newton gave Edward a nasty stare all through Biology. Yes, he'd already asked out Jessica, but he still wanted to have his chance with Bella. Additionally, Jessica hated Bella's guts more than ever. Yes, she was thrilled that Mike finally asked her out, but she despised how of all the girls to ask out, Edward chose _this one_. She chalked it up to that Bella was new and a transfer student and so she was the shiny new toy to all the boys. She tried to make herself feel better by convincing herself that Bella would grow old and dull in a matter of weeks, and then she'd finally blend in with everyone else in the shadows and then Jessica could finally resume her rightful place as the only girl in that school to shine in the spotlight. And who knows? When Edward gets tired of Bella and breaks up with the skank, _someone_ will need to be there for him to nurse his love wounds back to health, right?

_Keep dreaming,_ Edward thought as he read her mind.

Edward was excited that Bella was coming over to his house that evening, but he was also worried that Rose, Emmett and Jasper would say or do something to scare her off. He made them promise to be on their best behaviors.

"We won't eat her, if that's what you mean," Emmett snickered.

Edward punched his shoulder, then threatened to punch him through a wall, to which Esme quickly protested. Emmett and Jasper continued to tease Edward to no end, making outrageous threats to make Bella run for the hills, and Rose sulked alone up in her room, refusing to come down until the "episode with the human is all over."

Bella had to run home and eat dinner before going over to Edward's house. Alice intentionally made sure to invite Bella _after_ dinner time so that they wouldn't have to feign eating around her. It would have been too much to ask of Rose, for example. She thought it was bad enough having to blend in at school; she didn't want to be made to feel too out of place in her own home.

Bella cringed when she saw Jake standing in her driveway when she pulled up, and she hoped that she didn't accidentally make plans with Alice while already having something planned tonight with Jake. Not that she could remember making any plans with him.

"Hey, you," Jake said, getting the truck door for Bella and carrying her school books inside to the kitchen table.

Bella didn't know that _this _was the moment that Jake decided would be best to ask her out. He'd driven up from the Reservation unannounced, knowing that Charlie wouldn't be home yet, so they would finally have a minute alone.

"Hey, Jake. Want a sandwich or something?"

"Are you in a hurry?" He sensed she was feeling rushed.

"Oh, I'm just meeting a friend in a little while to try on a dress."

"_You?_ In a dress?"

"Yeah, for the dance tomorrow."

"Oh," Jake muttered, still not registering that Bella had a date. He was wondering if she was going to ask him or something, but then he felt silly for hoping that. Bella saw him as just a friend; he realized that now, but he was going to do anything he had to do to change that because he also just realized in that moment that he was falling in love with the girl he'd known all his life.

"Are we still on for Saturday's session of ghost stories?" Bella felt a weird vibe in the room and was trying to break it up with casual conversation.

"Yeah," Jake said optimistically.

"Do you think Sam will mind?" Bella half laughed with the question.

"I don't care if he does or not. He isn't the one in charge of the Reservation. We can share our stories with whoever we wanna share them with. Our heritage belongs to _all_ of us."

"I'll look forward to it, then," Bella said with a smile that made Jake's heart take an extra beat, then skip about three. He loved it when she smiled at him like that, and knowing now that he was in love with her made her smile even prettier, and more worth the earning.

"Me too."

Bella made an extra sandwich for Jake and they ate together and laughed about the ghost stories that were told last time.

"Oh, so uh, here's something you'll be interested in, I think," Bella said after swallowing a large bite.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Remember the story about the Cullens?"

"You mean, the ancient Cold Ones who never age and who always keep to themselves so that their secret doesn't get out?"

"Yeah, that one," Bella giggled. "They're not exactly keeping to themselves anymore, from what I can tell."

"Oh?"

"Alice Cullen is the one who invited me over to their house to try on a dress for the dance."

"Wait," Jake said, amused. "You're going over to the _Cullen's house_?"

"That's right."

"Well, I'll wait up for you then."

"Why's that?"

"I just want to make sure you come back out alive, is all."

They both laughed at that, neither of them yet realizing how true the old legends were.

Bella didn't mention to Jake that she was also going to the dance with Edward Cullen. It's not that she forgot to mention it; she just thought it would be better if she didn't. She wondered why that was as she drove over to the Cullen's house, but deep down – beyond the front of her mind where logic lived – she knew that Jake liked her, though she didn't yet comprehend just how much.

"Bella!" Alice said, running to the door as soon as she rang the bell. "Welcome to our home. I'm so happy you're here!"

Edward also passed through the room, but Alice shooed him away quickly, insisting that he not meddle in the ladies affairs. Jasper, Rose and Emmett all went out to hunt whatever wildlife would be passing through that evening, wanting to stay away from the house while Bella was there. They didn't particularly have anything against the human girl, but they decided that it would be best for them to spend as little time as possible around any human so that they wouldn't accidentally slip up and blow their cover. None of the three went out among mortal kind much and they always felt like they were expected to put on a show when they did. All three were in agreement that the less time they spent around humans, the less likely they would be to screw something up and give away their secret. That's why they were upset with Edward for getting involved with one this way. Alice was the only one of the "siblings" to stand up on Edward's side. She truly was happy that Bella was in their home and she rushed her upstairs to her room, thrilled to be having girl time together.

"Here's the dress I was telling you about," Alice said proudly.

And she had every reason to be proud. In the mere time it took for Bella to make and eat a sandwich, Alice had run – literally _run_ – all the way to a major city to pick it up. She had a vision of Bella wearing it last night, just as soon as Edward began to consider the possibility of asking Bella to the dance, and she spent the entire night researching where the dress would be so she could quickly purchase it.

It was so much _more_ than Bella would have imagined it could be. It was a dark blue, strapless, sequin gown with a low v-neck that was cut off just above the knee and that was form-fitting just to the hip. Bella knew it must have been expensive, but she honestly couldn't conceive of exactly how many shiny pennies it took to secure that dress. Alice, of course, would never have said the amount and Bella was too shy to come right out and ask.

"Are you _sure_?" Bella asked, thinking that this was too good to be true.

Suddenly, she also felt intimidated at the thought of showing up in this dress. Thank God there was a mask. Bella probably wouldn't show her face and would rather just play the part of Edward Cullen's "mystery date." After all, she was always put off by the kind of attention she would get for sure if she walked into the gym at Forks High School in this gorgeous gown.

"Try it on," Alice suggested.

Bella was almost too afraid to touch it, like she might ruin it just by unzipping it.

"Um, okay," Bella said nervously.

"Don't be afraid of fashion, Bella. Trust me. You'll like it."

Alice was right. Bella couldn't take her eyes off of herself as she stared into Alice's floor-to-ceiling mirror.

"How do you feel?" Alice asked.

Bella didn't know how to describe how she felt; she'd never felt that way before. She knew she should have been blushing like crazy, but she didn't. She felt so confident and… so… _expensive_. She thought that might be the right word, but it seemed odd to her to use that word to describe how she felt about herself.

Suddenly, and without warning, Alice had a vision. Bella didn't notice how Alice's eyes rolled back into her head or how dizzy she looked when she finally came back to the present moment; thankfully, she was entranced by the dress.

"Wait," Alice said, almost gasping. "Take it off."

Bella began to feel hurt, but Alice quickly explained.

"I have something even _better_!"

Many years back, decades even, Alice found a dress so perfect that she knew she had to purchase it simply for its intrinsic value. She knew it would come in handy at some point, and well, tomorrow night was that point.

She allowed herself to flit to her closet as quickly as a human would have been able to and pulled out a dress bag, unzipping it carefully, as if to pay the dress homage by treating it like a fragile artifact.

Bella nearly gasped at its beauty as Alice took it off of the hanger and handed it to her.

"Alice, I couldn't possibly…"

"It was meant for you," Alice said, cutting Bella off.

"It's too beautiful. _You_ should wear it."

Bella couldn't imagine why a stranger would be so kind to a girl she didn't even know anything about. Little did Bella know, Alice already knew quite a bit about her. She knew that Bella and Edward were destined to be together. She didn't know the details along the way, except as they came to her such as the inspiration to give Bella _this_ dress, but she was absolutely sure that Fate had made up its mind about this pair of love birds, and when Fate makes up its mind, no power under the heavens or in the earth can do a thing to alter the long-term consequences.

Bella slipped on the dark red gown as Alice rummaged through her things to find a matching scarlet half-mask and just the right shade for Bella's lips.

"I think this will do," Alice said, beaming with a degree of pride of even greater magnitude than before. "You look like a brunette Jessica Rabbit in a mask," she giggled. Alice was right. The dress even had the long slit up the side.

"Alice, you're like a fairy godmother and an angel from heaven all wrapped up into one energetic, petite little package!" Bella's mind was strolling through the clouds when there came a knock on Alice's bedroom door.

"Come in," Alice said, knowing it was Carlisle.

"Bella?" he asked, peaking into the room.

Carlisle looked stunned, and Bella would have attributed it to the gown, but the truth of the matter was that Carlisle recognized this young lady, and he was at a loss in figuring out how _she_ fit into _Now_. Was his mind somehow playing tricks on him?

"The phone is for you," he said calmly, handing her the phone.

"For me?" she asked, wondering why Charlie hadn't simply called her cell phone. "Hello?"

"Bella, dear," came an older voice on the other end of the line that was certainly not Charlie's.

"Gran?" Bella wondered how her Grandmother Violet knew that she would be at the Cullen residence at this time. She'd only told Jake about trying on one of Alice's dresses, and even then, how would the two have contacted one another? Nothing about this made any sense to Bella.

"I was hoping you would be home this evening, dear. I wanted to stop by. I have something important to give you."

"Um, yeah. I'll be home in about half an hour."

"Sounds lovely. I'll see you then."

Bella wondered what her grandmother would want to give her, and so suddenly. Grandmother Violet had moved out of Forks and into Port Angeles a few years back, and it would take her a little while to get to Charlie's house; nonetheless, Bella decided it would be best if she got going.

"Thank you so much for all of your kind help," Bella said, not knowing how to thank Alice enough for such a thoughtful gesture as loaning her this dress.

"Any time, Bella. And I really do mean _any time_."

Bella quickly changed back into her own things and ran out the front door to her truck. She felt a little uneasy for some reason, still wondering what Grandmother Violet would have to say.


	6. Chapter 6

Alice was sewing away when Rose entered her bedroom and stood over her as if trying to make her feel guilty about something.

"I've done nothing wrong, Rose," Alice said, never breaking her focus from the dark red gloves she was preparing for Bella's masquerade costume. She needed to make sure that Bella never actually touched Edward's hands, and the gloves seemed like the simplest way to make things work.

"It's risky – what the two of you are up to. What if we have to move because of this?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind that, Rose. You hate it here," Alice pointed out casually, still keeping her eyes glued to the fabric in front of her.

"I still don't think it's right."

Alice took this opportunity to break away from the accessories she was preparing to give Rose a long stare, so as to make her point all the stronger: "I've never seen him interested in _anyone_ before. Give her a chance." With that being said, she turned her visual focus back to the gloves.

Rose rolled her eyes and stalked off.

Bella never knew how much Edward and Alice's "siblings" distrusted this entire situation; but then, she also didn't know the tremendous risk that they were taking just by allowing her to play even the smallest part in their lives. And as far as they were concerned, what _if_ Edward and Bella _did_ fall in love? Then what? Edward knew all of their silent concerns because even though they were never vocalized in front of him, it was almost all they thought about since he'd asked the human girl out.

Bella drove home a little slower than usual. She wanted some time to think and the scenery on the way home helped her reflect on so much. She was excited about the dance, and she realized that she had never been excited about any social event in her life before. It wasn't really the dance, of course; it was the thought of being with Edward Cullen. There was something so different about him and something so familiar about him too. It wasn't just the way he _looked_ just like Edward Masen, but it's how he talked like him too, and how their mannerisms were entirely identical. If she didn't know any better she would have sworn upon her own life that they were the exact same guy, aside from the name and the time period, of course.

When Bella pulled onto her street, she saw that her grandmother's car was already parked in the driveway. Bella wondered how she had arrived so quickly; she must have been waiting for her.

"Gran?" Bella asked as she hopped out of her truck.

Her grandmother's car door opened and she stepped out and gave Bella a hug.

"I'm so happy you're back here, living so close to me again. I've missed you so much, you know."

"I've missed you too. Have you been waiting long?"

"Oh, I called you from this little gadget when I was almost here," Violet laughed as she held up an outdated cell phone. Bella was surprised that her grandmother knew how to use any cell phone at all, even an older one.

"How did you know to contact me at the Cullen's house?"

"Well," Violet said as she started walking up to the front door of Charlie's house, "That's something the two of us are going to have to have a little chat about. Why don't I get some tea going and we'll get caught up on all sorts of things?"

Fifteen minutes or so passed between them in silence as Violet scurried around the kitchen, making tea and setting cookies on a plate, and so on. Bella waited at the kitchen table after her offer to help Violet with anything was declined. Violet brought her own tea set, her own tea, and her own cookies. Bella figured that maybe her grandmother didn't think Charlie would have a tea set, but Bella knew of one that had been her mother's that was left here when she was a baby. She knew it was buried away in one of the cupboards.

Finally, Violet sat down across from Bella and took a long sip of tea before starting in on the small talk.

"How is the new high school?" Violet asked, taking another sip of tea and pushing a plate of cookies toward Bella.

"School's fine."

"Made any new friends, have you?"

"Yeah, a few."

"Anyone _interesting_?"

Bella wondered how to answer that. What would Grandmother Violet consider _interesting_, and why did she place so much interest on that word as if there were a mystery behind it?

"Um, just regular people, I guess."

"I think not," Violet said, and her words caught Bella off guard.

"What do you mean?" Did Grandmother Violet call Bella at the Cullen's house because she knew she was there and she believed in the old lore? Did she think that the Cullens were dangerous? But even if she did, the plans to go there weren't made until half way through the lunch period. It would have taken her quite awhile just to pack up and come here.

"Bella, did your mother ever tell you the story of how you were born?"

"Yeah. It was on the Reservation. At Sue Clearwater's house."

"Did she ever mention anything else about it? Anything that might seem _strange_ so far as birth stories go?"

"I wasn't aware of any complications with her pregnancy or anything. Why?"

"Her _pregnancy_," Violet scoffed quietly, and Bella didn't know what she could have meant by it. "There is so much you need to be filled in on, sweetheart. So much that even your mother couldn't have told you, because she simply never knew."

"What are you talking about?" Bella was beginning to feel a little nervous.

Was everything alright? Was she about to find out that she was adopted or something? She could handle that. She never would have guessed it, being that she looked so much like Charlie, but she would be fine with that news. A lot of kids her age were adopted, to the point that it was just a common thing these days; she just wondered why everyone waited so long to tell her.

"Your mother has never given birth to a child."

"Okay," Bella said, bracing herself for what she figured she would be hearing next.

"And your father has never fathered a child."

"So, my parents weren't able to have babies. So they adopted _me_ then. It's okay Gran. I understand."

"No," Violet said, "I'm afraid you don't. It's not that simple, my dear."

Bella figured that her grandmother was one of those old fashioned people then, who might look down on someone because of the circumstances of their lowly birth or something like that. Bella didn't know who her biological parents were, but she didn't feel the need to find out either. She was happy to keep calling Renee her mom and Charlie her dad because that's how she'd always known them, and they were always going to be good enough for her. But why was Grandmother Violet going to make a big stink about it? She had always loved Bella as her own granddaughter. Would that change suddenly?

"Whoever my birth mother is, or my biological dad, I won't mind hearing about it. But I've gone my entire life…"

"It's not like that, Bella," Violet interrupted. "Your birth was a wonder. Everything is out of synch here for you. Charlie came _after _you; not before." She looked at her granddaughter, knowing that the young girl wasn't understanding her meaning. "You disappeared from your Time," Violet continued, "But everything that _would have been_ has been, as if you'd lived out your long life till the end."

"What is it you're trying to say?" The logic was there in the old woman's words, but Bella's mind refused to wrap itself around something that seemed so impossible.

"Let me show you." Violet retrieved an old black and white photo album from her bag. "This is me when I was a baby," she said, pointing herself out with her parents.

"Okay," Bella said. "You were a really cute baby."

"That's because I had a very beautiful mother, who also had a very beautiful mother. Look closely at my eyes."

"Yes, I know. My father has your eyes," Bella stated.

"And _you_ have _his_ eyes. My mother had the same eyes. They actually originated as a family characteristic with _my_ grandmother."

"Is there a picture of her in here?" Bella asked.

"Yes," Violet answered, and then she sighed. "But I'm afraid I cannot show it to you."

"Why's that?"

"It would mess everything up."

"How?"

Violet knew that Bella wasn't yet piecing together any of her puzzle's elements, but she was not allowed to tell Bella anything more on the matter or the entire Plan that was set in motion would fall apart and everything – and everyone, at least in that family – would be destroyed.

"There is something I need you to understand, Bella," Violet said solemnly, as if entrusting her with a great mystery. "Perhaps you recognize someone here – someone you may have just met – who seems very familiar to you?"

Bella nodded her head, and found it hard to breathe in because she was shocked by Violet's words. What could her grandmother have possibly known of the Edward in her dreams?

"Your true love is in that man. He is the one you must reunite yourself with and return home with."

"Home? Reunite?"

"Yes," Violet said, nodding with a very serious expression. "The two of you must return home to your own time and live out the course of your lives so that everything – and everyone – may be brought to pass. If you don't, things as we all know them will disappear entirely and the magic of the stars will no longer help us as they have."

"What _is_ my own time, Gran?"

"You'll never know how strange it's always been to hear _you_ call _me_ that, Bella. I knew you when I was young, and I never would have imagined knowing you all over again; watching you grow up from your infancy."

Bella didn't ask what she meant; a part of her was beginning to allow Violet's clues to seep in and make sense.

"When am I from?" Bella asked urgently, bracing herself to hear the answer.

"All I can tell you is that we laid your body in the ground in 1984, and at that time you were a sixty-four year old woman."

"I don't remember any of that. I don't remember _anything_."

"You remember _some_ things," Violet corrected. "You remember the man you married."

"I don't remember having ever been married."

"But you know who he is, Bella."

"How do I tell him that?"

"You _can't_. It's against the rules, if you want to call them that."

"How do we return to where, I mean, _when_ we're supposed to be?"

"Deep in your heart, you know your name. Deep in his heart, he knows it too. He must call you by that name."

"Then I'll drive over to his house right now and tell him to call me…" Bella instinctively knew not to say her real name out loud, "By _that_ name."

"No," Violet said. "You won't. You mustn't. You must allow him the time to figure it out."

"But how will he know if I never tell him?"

"He will feel your love for him. That is how he will figure everything out."

"So, if I tell him that I love him, then he'll know that I do and he'll remember my name?"

"You must not tell him that you love him until after he says that he loves you."

"What if he never does?"

"Then you will go on living as you are until we all fade away."

"What is it to fade away? Is it to die?"

"No, Bella. It is not to die. It is to have never existed at all." The woman's words were sad, and very serious.

"How has it fallen to _me_ to play this part? Why am I here? What happened in the past to make it change?"

"That, Bella, is something that I am not allowed to reveal to you."

"No one has ever known me by my real name."

"I know your real name, and your mother Renee heard the name in her heart too the night you were brought to us. I am confident that somewhere, deep inside of him, your true love knows it too. If his heart beats, he knows it."

"Well, I'm sure his heart beats. Everyone's does, right?" It then occurred to Bella that Violet never actually _did_ tell her how she came to be here at this time. "Gran? When you talk about the night that I was _brought_ to you and mom, what do you mean by it? Where _did_ I come from?"

"The starlight brought you here. The light from our constellation shone on the waters and then you arrived from the waters of the ocean."

"Is that _really_ what happened? Is that a figurative way of saying it, or something?"

"That, Bella, I swear, is _really_ what happened."

Bella and Violet finished their tea together, and Bella pondered in her heart how she was to let Edward know that she wasn't really _Bella Swan_, but someone else from a different time altogether.

Bella let out a long sigh that night before finally falling asleep. She lay quietly in her bed well into the long hours of the night, worried that Edward might never figure all of this out. If she couldn't remember the details of her original life, what hope did she have of Edward remembering his?

But Violet had assured her that as long as his heart was beating, there was hope that he would remember her name.

…

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, and to all who have recommended this story for others to read. I appreciate you all letting me know that you're enjoying the story so far!

…

Additionally, thank you to 84gemstone for the lovely polyvores. Check them out here:

www DOT polyvore DOT com/cgi/set?id=35638425

www DOT polyvore DOT com/cgi/set?id=35639182

www DOT polyvore DOT com/cgi/set?id=35642040


	7. Chapter 7

Edward was out of the house when Carlisle handed Bella the phone, and since he didn't return home to his own house that night, he had no way of knowing yet that Carlisle recognized her from Edward's own real, flesh and blood past.

Edward decided to hunt and run until the time that Bella would be asleep. He craved the moment when he would be holding her notebook in his hands, sifting through each one of the sketches. She obviously took such care to get every detail right, and he couldn't help but love her all the more for it.

He knew by now that he was in love with her; that he was _absolutely_ in love with her. He loved the pure, raw – some would say _human_ – emotions that she brought out in him. He couldn't remember ever feeling this way about another person before, though there was something vague in his past he thought he might have loved once, but he decided that it could have been nothing compared to Bella.

As he climbed through her window he wondered in his heart how he could impress his feelings upon her without seeming overly intense. He didn't want to frighten her away by coming right out and admitting his love for her. After all, she was very young and had probably never been in love before either. He decided that he would have to take things slowly and secure more and more of her love over time. But Edward didn't realize that time was _not_ something that they had a lot of anymore, and that keeping her with him forever meant racing against the clock of Fate.

"You look so beautiful tonight," he whispered into her ear as she slept.

She sighed softly and mumbled a little. Edward made his way over to her sketch pad, which this time was laying at the foot of her bed, opened to the last sketch.

"How do you know these things?" he wondered out loud.

She began to mumble a little louder, and Edward realized that if he listened diligently enough that he could make out a word here and there.

"Can't tell…" was a part of one phrase, and "secret," was another.

Edward wondered if she could hear him, and if she might understand that he was asking her questions. Were these parts of the answers she would have given?

"A secret, huh?" he questioned her, flipping through the pages of the notebook the way someone would the tabloids while waiting at the cash register.

His interest in the sketches dissipated as his focus turned more to her words and the beautiful voice that carried them to his ears.

"Name," she mumbled softly.

"Name?" he wondered.

He wished that he could wake her and ask her what she was dreaming, but he frowned at how his being there in her most vulnerable state would likely startle her and drive her to hate him.

"I wish," he began, wishing he could know what she was seeing in wherever she was now. He knelt down beside her bed and swept her hair away from her forehead. "Can you tell me where you are? Can you tell me what you see; how you feel; what you want?"

"Edward," she said softly. Though her voice was soft – barely above a whisper – it was as clear as a bell. His name hadn't been mumbled as the others had.

Edward instinctively moved away, and only returned back to his position next to her when he was absolutely sure she was still asleep. The last thing he desired was to be caught leaning over her in the dark and branded a stalker.

"Are you dreaming of me?" he whispered. He longed for her to say yes, hoping with all his might that she was thinking of him at all times as he was always thinking of her now.

"Edward," she sighed.

"I'm here," he said, taking her hand.

He was surprised at how familiar this felt, though he'd never before held a human girl's hand; never once since having become a vampire. He stared at her hand, memorizing every aspect of it, and the more he looked, the more he knew he'd held her hand before.

"Impossible," he said, trying his best to shrug off the unfeasible feeling of familiarity.

She shivered a little, so Edward gently released her hand; however, the warm touch of her flesh lingered on his fingertips and he pleaded with anyone who could hear his heart's cry at that moment that this wonderful feeling would never fade away from his flesh.

"I wish," Edward said again, but he still didn't know exactly what he wanted to say. What _was_ it he wished for, exactly?

He knew that he wanted Bella to fall in love with him, and he knew that he would give anything to find a way for them to be together. Every complication ran through his mind at once, and he shuddered at the thought of ending her mortal life so that they could be together in a way that _his_ society deemed acceptable. What of _her_ society? No living person would deem it right for someone to die just to appease his heart's desire. And then there was, of course, the question of her _soul_! Did he really have it in him to risk it as if it were something to be gambled with? No – she couldn't join him in his terrible state. On the other hand, it would be impossible for him to join her in her state of being. What he was, well, that was a permanent condition.

"I wish there was a way," Edward whispered, deciding that was the best he could do in summing up his thoughts at that time.

One part of him was angry that Fate would design such a course. Bella was unobtainable, and she would always be the only one he would ever want; he was absolutely sure of that.

The other half was thankful just to have the opportunity to take her to the dance. Hopefully she would enjoy being in his company, and maybe she would allow him to take her somewhere else too? But eventually, she would know the truth about him; she would either figure it out herself or things would come to a point where it would be time for _him _to reveal everything.

She would need to make an informed decision concerning their relationship at some point, and it was at that thought that the former side of Edward became outraged. Would she _really_ want to be in a relationship with a vampire? When she found out, would she be horrified? Or maybe disgusted? Or would she not be able to trust him because of his predatorial instincts? What about a normal future together? She would never have that so long as she was with him. She would give up on him because nothing would make sense.

Edward figured that if he were smart, he would leave then and there and never return to the small town. He ought to live all the days of her life avoiding her so that neither of their hearts would have the opportunity to get broken. He honestly believed that his staying was the cruel thing to do to her. But why did his heart refuse that route?

"I can't leave you well enough alone," he whined quietly. "I won't. I'm too selfish to do what's right. I'm too selfish to leave. I refuse to do it. I…"

Who was he really wrestling with here? _She_ was asleep, and _she_ wasn't asking him to go anywhere. It was him he was trying to convince, arguing with himself like a damn fool; the 'good side' trying to fend him away from her – away from falling any more deeply in love with her for both their sakes.

Even after he realized the positions of his dual nature, he still decided to let the greedy lover in him win this battle. Screw what was ethical! Screw what was good for them both in the long run. As far as tomorrow night would go, he would _not_ stand her up. He rationalized that they _both_ wanted to go to the dance together, and as long as she wanted him by her side, he would be there.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. He didn't permit himself to not feel guilty just because he had apologized in advance; if anything, his knowing her heart would break because of him made things all the worse, but he didn't care. He wasn't going anywhere.

Edward left Bella's room a little earlier than he had to. He decided to take a stroll through the woods, hoping that he might be able to clear his mind a bit and shake the guilt he felt for getting involved with her. He noticed that moisture was beginning to cling to the ground, which would surely make the roads slick by morning – which would be typical for Forks this time of year. Winter was inching its way in and it would only be a short matter of time before a blanket of snow covered everything.

He was half way home when a giant wolf emerged from a thicket of trees and huffed at him. Edward wasn't alarmed at all. He'd actually wondered when he would be seeing one of the Quileutes this way. He'd seen them as Wolves before, but never from this young generation.

"Sam," Edward said, knowing who he was because he could read his mind.

Sam stepped back, startled that Edward knew his name.

"_You should stay away from Charlie's daughter," _Sam thought, wondering if Edward would be able to hear his warning.

"But I won't," Edward said, confirming Sam's suspicion. "I love her."

"_Not possible,"_ Sam thought, huffing again. _"Your kind is not capable of loving a human – only eating one."_

"As you are aware, I keep the terms and conditions of your forefather's Treaty. You have no right to be here, meddling in my business, Wolf."

Sam gave another huff, offended that he was being lectured by a bloodsucking tick about a contract he knew every detail of inside and out.

"You should go now," Edward said, shooing him away as one would a puppy. "Go on. Go home."

Edward knew he was antagonizing Sam, who was only sent out to do his job. He was a guardian of human life here in this area. His ability to transform gave him the authority to check out what was going on between Edward and Bella, or so Sam figured. But Edward was right; he had broken none of the rules, and so Sam couldn't stick around for long. He hated leaving in that particular moment; he didn't want Edward to think that he was leaving just because he was being waved away by a leech.

After Sam departed, Edward kept at his leisurely pace all the way back to his house, and by the time he arrived, Carlisle had already left for the hospital.

"Edward," Alice screeched excitedly as he entered the house. "I have everything ready for Bella tonight! I'm going to arrange to bring everything to her house and she and I can get ready together. You'll have to pick her up, just like a _real_ date!"

"What other kind of date is there?" Edward asked. "What's a _fake_ date?"

"Oh, shut it," she said, slapping his chest. "You know what I mean."

Edward knew that Alice was ecstatic about his asking Bella out. Rose, on the other hand, was sitting on the couch and scowling at him as he got home. She didn't understand why he couldn't just find some nice vampire girl to fall in love with instead of a _human_. Edward was somewhat offended at that. After all, _she_ had fallen in love with Emmett at first site, and she dragged his dying body back to Carlisle so he could bite him for her. Sure, he was dying at the time, but if she really wanted to stand by her principle of not dragging people into this life then she should have _let_ him die. He was starting to get fed up with her shitty little double standard.

"Give it up," he said to Rose. "I'm going out with Bella. Your stomping around like you have some right to be offended won't change that."

She stormed off to her room and slammed the door.

"Don't mind her," Alice said. "Don't let anything or any _one_ put you off kilter today. Tonight is going to be incredible; I can already tell!"

Edward got ready for school, excited to see Bella again. He wouldn't see her with his own eyes until lunch, but he would definitely spend the morning watching her through whoever's eyes were looking at her – which to Edward's dismay, would likely be _every_ boy in that school.

As Edward drove to school, he wondered about Sam's interrupting him the way he had. What right did he have to tromp around on land that was considered occupied by the Cullens? Should he and Carlisle make arrangements to speak with the Tribe's Elders about it, making sure that his family would be left alone.

Edward knew that if one Quileute changed that it would only be a matter of time before more followed. He didn't know how many there would be, but he didn't want _any_ of them hiding in the shadows as he courted Bella. He didn't want _anyone_ to stand in the way of his making her fall in love with him.

Edward parked his car where he usually did. When he got out, he looked for Bella's red truck. He wanted to make sure she made it to school alright, since the roads were very slick now, as he anticipated they would be. He'd worried about her, since she was from Phoenix and probably never saw a flake of snow since she'd turned two.

He saw her parked across the lot. She was standing next to her truck, digging around in her backpack, searching for who knows what? Her attention was so focused on whatever she was looking for that she never heard the tires of one of the other student's car skidding sideways, out of control, right toward her!


	8. Chapter 8

Earlier that morning, Carlisle walked to his office at the hospital only to find a woman sitting in a chair beside his office door.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not positive who she was.

"Hello Carlisle," she said.

Carlisle thought it was odd that this woman was greeting him by his first name; it's not that he put himself on a pedestal, but that's not the way one addresses a doctor in a hospital when you don't know him personally.

"My name is Violet Swan," she continued.

He recognized Bella in her now, and he started to form the idea that Bella was a descendant of the young woman he had seen all those years ago.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Swan."

"Mrs.," she corrected him. "Bella is my granddaughter."

"What can I do for you Mrs. Swan?"

"May we step into your office, Carlisle? What I have to tell you is not for everyone to hear."

He unlocked his office door and held it open for her, then offered her a seat. Violet began by explaining that she knew all about Carlisle's family – what they _really_ were. Carlisle was stunned and didn't know what to say, and he thought that maybe she had come here to warn them to stay away from Bella. He was even _more_ surprised to find that what she wanted was exactly the opposite.

"Edward and Bella are meant to be together," she said. "They've always been destined to find one another, no matter the circumstances they may find themselves in. I promise you, Carlisle, that I will never speak a word concerning your family's… _condition_. But in return I must ask you to never reveal to Edward that you've seen Bella before – in the very distant past. If Edward knew about this, the entire Plan would be frustrated and every opportunity for their happiness would be corrupted. They would never again have the opportunity to find true love."

Carlisle had found it easy to accept the idea that Bella may have been a descendant of that young lady he saw in the hospital those many years ago, but it was difficult, even for him to wrap his mind around the concept that Bella was actually _that_ woman, and that it was Violet who was the descendant. But then, he figured that stranger things have happened. After all, there was no such thing as vampires, yet here he sat.

"Why is Bella here now?" Carlisle asked. "By the way you make it sound, she is _your_ grandmother. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that's right," Violet admitted. "I do realize that this all sounds very strange. The reason that Bella is here now is because she has a role to play that cannot be fulfilled by anyone else. She was destined to live twice, and Fate actually allowed it! _That's_ how crucial her role is. However, she may not fulfill her role _and_ find happiness with her true love if Edward discovers the truth from another. This is something that he will have to figure out himself. Do I have your word that you will keep silent on the matter?"

"Violet, you have my word that I will not speak a thing about it."

"You mustn't even _think _on it," Violet said, knowing that Edward could read his mind.

"I won't," Carlisle promised.

"I know of your son's marvelous capability. But I also know that he cannot read Bella's thoughts, nor _mine_. We are off limits to him so that he can unravel the mystery on his own, you see. If he was to discover his or Bella's past together by any other means than his heart, he would automatically forfeit their destiny together, regardless of the fact that it wouldn't be his fault."

"I understand," Carlisle said. "I swear that I will not speak or think on the matter whatsoever."

"I am happy that you are willing to take this old woman's word on something that sounds so absurd, Dr. Cullen. Thank you for your support in helping to bring our family to pass. Were it not for Bella and Edward's love and eventual union, my mother, me, and Charlie wouldn't be here."

"I am happy to help. And please, Violet, call me Carlisle."

As this meeting was taking place between her grandmother and Carlisle, Bella was getting out of bed, stretching and yawning. She was excited to start the day, but even more excited for what the day would bring. She couldn't wait to wear the red dress. She hoped that Edward's jaw would hit the floor when he saw her in it, but she also hoped that the red would help him remember her real name.

She got ready for school, taking a little more care than usual to look her very best. She'd never put any effort into her appearance for a _boy_ before, but Edward was not just "some boy" to her. She knew that they were meant to be together forever – she just had to help him realize that – so she didn't mind putting on a little lip gloss and such for effect.

Bella was in such a hurry to get out the door that she didn't realize she'd forgotten her homework. She didn't remember that she left it on her desk until she was already parked at the school. There was no time to run back and get it without being late. She scorned herself in her mind for spending all of that time searching for her favorite shirt instead of taking care of her responsibilities. Now she was going to receive zero credit for all the hard work she had done.

She got out of her truck and rummaged through her backpack, giving one last hope that she might have placed it in there without remembering. Even when she realized it wasn't in there, she kept sorting through her books and folders, hoping she was wrong.

She never saw a car skidding toward her, its driver out of control because of the slick patches of ice all over the parking lot, and she never heard everyone screaming for her to get out of the way.

She felt something strong wrap around her body and before she knew it, she was flying through the air toward the grass. She heard a loud bang against the side of her truck just where she had been standing, and then registered that what was wrapped around her was a pair of strong arms. She looked up and saw Edward. He looked sick with worry.

"You didn't move out of the way," he hissed, as if to blame her for doing something stupid.

"I… I didn't know…" she stammered, but she was only now beginning to feel the fear that she would have felt if she had known the car was about to slam into her.

Edward quickly ran off, faster than a human should have been able to run, and Bella was left wondering if she could believe her eyes.

"Oh my God! Bella, are you _alright_?" Mike was running toward her, the whole population of Forks High behind him, and he dropped down to his knees and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh my God! I didn't think for a second that you were going to be able to get out of the way in time. Thank God that you finally heard us yelling at you! We didn't think you heard us."

"Tyler, you _asshole_!" Jessica screamed at the boy who had been driving the car.

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Tyler said, begging for her forgiveness. "I didn't think the pavement would be so slick when I turned in. The roads had been salted; I just figured that the parking lot would have been, too. I'm so sorry!"

Mike helped Bella up and walked her to the office.

"Bella needs to see the nurse," he said to the secretary.

"No," she hesitated, "I don't. I'm fine, really. Nothing happened."

"What seems to be the problem, Michael?" asked the secretary.

"Tyler hit Bella's truck. Bella got out of the way just in time; it was a _miracle_!"

"Oh heavens," gasped the nurse, who had come out of her office to see what all the fuss was about. "Come with me, Miss Swan. We'd better look you over; just to be sure that everything is alright. Dianne, call the Chief. He'll need to know."

"No," Bella said, "Please don't. I don't want Tyler to get into any trouble, and I don't want my dad to make a big deal about…"

"Tyler's already in trouble," Mike said. "I think he just totaled his car against your truck."

"Come with me," the nurse insisted. "Tell me everything that happened."

What was Bella supposed to say? She would have been fine admitting that Edward came out of nowhere and saved her life, but she didn't want to tell her that he practically flew from the scene just seconds later. How would that make him look? How would that make _her_ sound? Then they'd go on about how she probably hit her head and before she would know it, she'd be in the emergency room getting scanned up and down for brain trauma. No thank you!

"I saw Tyler's car coming toward me and I jumped out of the way onto the grass. But I'm _fine_, I swear. See? No damage done."

"Hmm," the nurse said, assessing Bella's arms. "Which side did you fall onto?"

"My right."

"Well, I can't see any damage at all. It's like nothing even happened."

"Like I said, I'm fine. Can you keep the secretary from calling my dad?"

"I'm afraid not. A police officer will have to come out and make an accident report. This is a public building with minors. No matter which officer gets sent out, your father will find out eventually. It's best he know right away, don't you think? Why don't you wait here with me until he gets here, and I'll go ahead and write a note to excuse you from your first class."

Ten minutes later, Charlie swung the office door open.

"Where is she?" he asked frantically.

"I'm right here, dad. I'm fine."

Charlie was livid and already swore to himself that he would have the head of whoever did this on a platter by lunch time. He asked for details, finding out that it was Tyler who drove so recklessly, and he called him into the principal's office to chew him a new one.

Tyler continued to apologize to Bella throughout the rest of the day, to which she was utterly embarrassed. She hated that her dad scolded Tyler so harshly. Besides, like Tyler said, the parking lot wasn't salted and he didn't think it would be so slippery. She knew he didn't _mean_ to slam his car into her truck and it's not like he was _aiming_ to hit her or anything.

"How are you holding up?" Edward asked at lunch.

Bella stood there with her lunch tray, staring at Edward, not sure what to say about what had happened that morning.

"I… I'm fine," she said.

"It's a good thing you got out of the way," he continued, carrying her tray to what he liked to consider _their_ table.

"Is that the official story?" she asked him as he pulled her chair out for her.

"Hmm?" he asked nonchalantly, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"This morning…" she started to say, but stopped.

"I'm so happy you're alright. I was worried that I'd be spending the evening in a tux beside a hospital bed."

"Well, thankfully, you won't have to do that. I'm glad I'm alright too. Thank you."

Edward didn't ask why she said thank you; he already knew. He didn't want to press his luck too far by outright denying all that he'd done. He thought it best to just leave things as they were.

"I'm very much looking forward to tonight," he said.

"Me too."

Bella noticed that Edward wasn't going to willingly reveal anything about this morning, and as much as she was dying to press the issue, she decided not to. It was her duty now to help him fall in love with her, and things might get off to a rough start if she began by quarreling.

"I was wondering what time I would be able to come by and pick you up?"

"That's something that you'll have to negotiate with Alice. She is coming over after school and we'll be getting ready together. I have no idea when she'll be done."

"I'll see what I can do," he said with a smile. "I want to pick you up as soon as possible."

Bella blushed and Edward rather enjoyed the sight of her feeling flattered.

"Oh," Bella said, casting her eyes downward, "I'm afraid I forgot to bring my homework today. I left it on my desk this morning." She felt guilty that her half of the lab not being turned in would affect _both_ of their grades.

"It's alright," Edward said. He wanted to place a finger under her chin and lift her eyes back up, but he didn't dare. She already knew that something was very odd about him, after he took off running like that earlier. He didn't want her to be exposed to any more of the truth until it was absolutely necessary, and his cold, icy flesh was a part of that truth. "I finished it all anyway. I couldn't sleep last night, so..."

He left out the part that he also visited her room, and that it wasn't the first time either. He preferred it sound like he was up all night studying. Studying _is_ more socially acceptable than stalking, after all.

"You're the best!" He loved how her eyes lit up with relief and appreciation. "I was afraid I was going to destroy your perfect 4.0 or something."

"How do you know I have a 4.0?"

"I just figured you did, the way the teacher went on and on about how smart you were the first day I got here. Plus, you seem pretty smart to me."

Edward enjoyed the compliment.

"Thanks," he said casually.

"Poor Tyler," Bella said as she spotted him across the lunch room. Mike was yelling at him and Jessica was there to take sides with Mike. "Everyone is going to be on his case now. He didn't mean to do anything wrong."

"He should have slowed down and taken the turn with more caution," Edward stated matter-of-factly.

"It wasn't entirely his fault," Bella said, coming to his defense. "Anyone could have made that mistake."

"But no one else did."

"I wish everyone would leave him alone. My dad gave him quite the ripping this morning in the office. I thought he was going to cry. I think that was enough. I hate to think of what he'll have to face from his parents when he gets home."

Bella decided to be done with lunch a little early so she could use the phone in the office. Edward trailed after her, carrying her books and that sort of thing.

"Who are you calling?" he asked.

"Tyler's parents," she said, thumbing through the school directory on the counter by the phone. "I know they've already been notified about the accident, but I just want to let them know that everything is fine as far as I'm concerned and that there are no hard feelings. I don't want him to be in too much trouble – no more than he absolutely _has_ to be."

Edward was impressed by Bella's kindness. Certainly, no one would have expected for her to go out of her way like this to protect the boy who had almost killed her just hours earlier. He was proud of her for doing this thing; for being so kind and forgiving, and for thinking of others before herself. It was something to be admired.

Edward turned in the Biology lab with both of their names on it, and Bella thanked him again. Edward talked Bella into letting him give her a ride home after school, just in case something might have been wrong with her truck. He added that he would come have a look at it in the morning, since it would be a weekend. Bella agreed that this would be a good idea, but the truth was that she was thrilled at the idea of spending not only the evening with Edward, but the next morning with him too, even if most of his attention would be on what was under the hood of her truck. She figured the more time they spent together, the more likely he would be to remember her real name.

As for Edward, he concocted the idea of giving her a ride home out of pure greed. He saw how Mike put his arms around Bella after he fled the scene, and he knew that the only reason that Mike was harassing Tyler all day was because he was hoping to impress Bella by the gesture. Edward laughed to himself that Bella probably thought _less_ of him for berating Tyler all day, but still, he wanted to give Mike as little opportunity as possible to gush over Bella. The sooner he could get her out of there, the better.

Edward wondered the rest of the day why it was that he was feeling _jealous_ about Mike touching Bella. He hated that the stupid boy was trying to impress her. It wasn't that Edward thought of Mike as competition; not in the least. But he still despised him for showing even the smallest amount of interest in _his_ girl, and Edward fantasized about breaking both of Mike's arms if he ever wrapped them around her again. He knew that would be out of line, but there was some primitive urge in him seeping out which had never been there before Bella entered his life.

"See you at the end of the day," Edward said when it was time for the pair to go their separate ways. "I'll pick you up from your last class."

"Okay," Bella said, nodding. "See you then."

Both were excited about spending as much time together as possible, and to have the evening together.

"Tonight will be perfect," they each thought to themselves in unison as they parted.


	9. Chapter 9

Bella received a lot of attention for hopping into Edward's car.

Jessica was angry when she found out that he had offered _Bella_ a ride home – a thing he had _never_ done for _her_ before, or for any other girl for that matter. Why was Bella so frickin' special?

Bella was telling Angela about his offer during last period, and _of course_, Jessica's ears perked up at the mention of "Edward Cullen."

"How cool," Jessica said, trying to sound glad for Bella. "I see you two are also _lunch buddies _now too. How fun for you."

Mike was also angry when he realized that he had missed his chance to offer Bella a ride home.

"Damn Cullen, hogging her to himself all day," he muttered under his breath. "It was _me_ who comforted her after the crash. It should be _me_ driving her home – not that Cullen prick!"

Edward chuckled quietly as Mike berated himself for not having acted sooner.

"I should have offered her a ride right away. Then she would be in _my_ car this afternoon instead. He'd better not try to kiss her. I'll kick his ass…" Mike obsessed over the matter nonstop.

"In your dreams, asshole," Edward muttered quietly. "Bella is _mine_."

As soon as the bell to end the last class rang, Bella saw Edward standing right outside of her classroom's door.

"That was fast," she said, obviously surprised by his sudden appearance. "Isn't your last class across the campus?"

"I left a little early to get to you sooner. I didn't want to give people the chance to swarm around you and pester you for details about what happened earlier. I was afraid they might stress you out. You ready to go?"

Bella had already pulled everything out of her locker that she would need to take home before her last class. She had the same idea as Edward. She didn't want to be approached with a thousand questions and overwhelmed with attention. She just wanted everyone to forget all about it and move on.

"Ready," she said.

Edward grabbed both of their backpacks and flung them easily over one shoulder and then guided Bella through the crowded halls to his car. Everyone stopped and stared when he opened the passenger side door for her.

Bella felt self-conscious as she slid in. Why did everyone have to be staring like this?

"So," Edward started as he turned out of the school's parking lot, "Are you hungry or anything? I can get you something to eat somewhere."

"I'm fine," Bella said.

"Still a little upset about earlier? I'm sure that almost being hit by a car can really take a toll on someone."

"It can," Bella admitted. "But I'm not entirely sure what to make of this morning. Edward, what happened?"

Edward stared straight ahead, but he knew that ignoring her question wasn't going to make her curiosity go away.

"I pushed you out of the way," he confessed. "I didn't want Tyler to smash you with his car."

"Why didn't you take any credit for that?"

"Modesty, I guess," Edward said, feigning a small laugh.

"You just ran off," Bella continued. "And you were so… _fast_. How did you move so fast, anyway?"

"I've thought about joining the track team," Edward said, half-changing the subject. "But with my schedule and all, I mean, you know how I get pulled out a lot and stuff."

"No one on the track team is as fast as you were today," Bella said, pushing the topic a little further, searching for answers.

"True," Edward said with a nod. "Are you sure you aren't hungry?" They were now passing a row of restaurants along one of the main roads. "Last chance."

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

She wanted to keep talking about how fast he was, and _how_ he could move faster than anyone she'd ever seen in her life, but she knew she wasn't going to get any answers from him; not right now, at least. And maybe she would have been making a big deal out of nothing at all if she pursued the issue. Maybe he really was just destined to become some incredible track star, were it not for Dr. Cullen putting his academics first.

Bella turned her head to stare out the window and Edward wondered what was on her mind. He knew she wanted to know more about him, but he didn't want to come right out before they even had their first date and expose himself as a vampire.

He decided to stop at a drive thru and pick something up for himself. It's not that he was going to eat it, but he wanted Bella to think he would.

He placed his order and then asked her if she wouldn't like something too, maybe a shake or something?

"I guess I'll have a strawberry one, with chocolate chips if they can make that happen."

Edward made sure it did happen, and he loved the way her eyes lit up when she saw the tasty treat. He pretended to take a few sips of his drink from time to time as he drove her home.

"Your fries sure smell good," Bella said.

"Have some," he offered.

"No, I can't take them."

"Please _do_," Edward insisted, knowing that they would just end up in the trash as soon as he got back to his own house.

"Well, maybe just a few."

Edward despised the way human food smelled, especially greasy fast food, but he pretended to enjoy the smell the way Bella did.

"Here," she said, pushing a fry to his lips, "Have one. They're _really_ good!"

"Oh, no thanks."

"Are you sure?" she asked, waggling it in front of his nose, hoping to tempt him.

"Not right now. I'm driving. But thanks."

"Okay," she said, eating it herself instead. "Ooh, you just missed out. That was the greasiest, yummiest fry I think I've ever had. It was probably the best fry in the world and _you_ turned it down. Now you'll be sorry forever."

Edward decided to play along: "Oh, woe is me. I'll never have another opportunity like that one again."

"No, probably not," Bella giggled.

Edward pulled into Bella's driveway, but kept the engine running, hoping to keep her in the car with him as long as possible.

"How was your shake?" Edward asked, realizing it was all gone.

"It was great, thanks."

He took the empty cup and placed it in the to-go bag.

"Hey," he said, sifting through the contents, "Did you eat all my fries?"

Bella had a guilty look on her face. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice until you got home. Sorry about that. I just really love fries. They're my favorite. I should have ordered my own, but at the time I could have sworn I wouldn't have wanted any."

"It's okay. I'm not much of a fry person anyway."

"You go straight for the cheeseburger, huh?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so."

Honestly, the thought of eating _any_ of what was in that bag made Edward feel like he was going to gag up filthy ashes. That's pretty much what happens when a vampire does pretend to eat human food. What goes down must come up; that's the motto.

Just a moment later, Alice rolled up in her yellow convertible.

"Oh, your sister is here. I guess that's my cue," Bella said. "See you soon."

She hopped out of Edward's car and asked Alice if there was anything she could help her carry into the house.

"Oh no, I've got it," Alice said. "Don't worry, Edward," Alice yelled toward him as he was backing out. "She's in good hands! See you in a few hours."

Alice made three trips out to her car to bring all of the stuff in, not wanting to make a show of how she could have easily handled it all at once. No one as petite as Alice would have been able to carry so much – unless they were stronger than a human, of course.

She quickly set everything up in Bella's bedroom, converting it so that it looked like a little mini-salon with inspirational pictures that Alice had clipped out of magazines and adhered to poster boards. It took Alice a little over two hours to get Bella all done up the way she had envisioned. She was delighted that the gloves she made for her fit perfectly, each one going up just past the elbow.

"There now," Alice said, setting Bella's mask in place and beaming with joy. "What do you think?"

Bella couldn't believe that the girl looking back at her in the mirror was her own self.

"Oh Alice!"

"I know, right? Magnificent. You can thank me by not tripping in the heels I brought for you tonight," Alice giggled, but as far as her visions showed her, Bella _would_ trip in her heels at the dance.

"No one even knows I'll be there tonight," Bella said.

"Well they will all be pleasantly surprised then, I should think."

"I guess so."

"Don't worry, Bella, about what other people will think. You look beautiful and you are there to have a good time with Edward, and you _will_. I'm sure of it. I know _he's_ excited to be going with you."

"I'm excited too," Bella admitted shyly, blushing a little.

"This will be the best dance you've ever been to, Bella."

"Actually, it will be the _only_ dance I've ever been to."

"You're kidding! This is your _first_ dance?"

Bella nodded her head.

"All the better," Alice said with a giggle. "You know, this is Edward's first dance, too."

"I wouldn't have guessed."

"He likes you very much," Alice added with a smile.

"He does?"

"Yes, he does. I just thought you should know."

Bella was glad that Alice told her that; it gave her confidence that everything would be fine. Bella was still nervous about actually getting up in front of people and dancing. She'd never done it before and she didn't want to look like a fool or anything, but with Edward there and with her knowing that he liked her, she found courage to not cancel their plans last minute they way the coward at her was begging her to do.

"Well, Edward will be here very soon. I'm going to go home and get ready and I'll see you at the dance later, okay?"

"Thank you so much, Alice. You're a good friend."

"Hey, _any_ time."

Bella helped Alice pack everything up and take it to her car, and then went back inside to wait on the couch until Edward arrived. She was thrilled when the doorbell rang. She quickly ran to answer it.

She opened the door, but it was not Edward that stood behind it.

"Jake?"

"Hey Bella," he said, inviting himself in. "Getting ready for the dance, huh?"

"Yeah," she answered, drawing the word out a little. She wasn't sure what he was doing showing up at her door just then.

"I heard what happened today at your school and I just wanted to stop by to make sure that everything was alright."

"Oh," she said quickly, realizing his intentions. "Everything is fine. I promise."

"Good. That's good."

"Thanks for stopping by, Jake. You really didn't need to do that. That was sweet of you."

"Yeah, well… you know. What are friends for, right?" He chuckled a little, but it sounded sort of forced to Bella's ears. Was there another reason he'd stopped by? "Hey, you know, there was something else."

"What's that?"

"I know you're going to the dance with…"

Just then, Edward's car pulled into the drive.

"Well, have a good night tonight, Bella. You look beautiful. See you later."

"See ya, Jake."

He turned to go as Edward got out of his car. The two guys exchanged glances, each of them suspicious of the other.

Edward felt uneasy until he saw Bella standing in the doorway.

"My goodness," he said, obviously stunned by her beauty. "You look lovely, Bella. I hardly have words!"

"Why, thank you. So do you." Bella quickly bit her bottom lip. "_Handsome_. I meant to say that you look handsome."

"Thank you." He pulled a corsage out of a little plastic container and slipped it onto her wrist. "Shall we?" He offered her his arm and escorted her to the passenger side of his car.

Edward watched Jake as he was walking to his car, and Bella noticed that Jake turned his head to watch Edward interact with her. Both guys exchanged the same untrusting glances, and though Jake didn't take his eyes off of Edward for a second, Edward acted like Jake wasn't there and went on enjoying the beginning of his date with Bella. He started the car, and then took off down the street, speeding by Jake so as to make him feel extra left out of the night's festivities.

"Do you know him?" Bella asked.

"I know _of_ him," Edward stated matter-of-factly.

"_Of_ him?" She wondered what that was supposed to mean. It's not like Jake was notorious for any crimes; he was just a sixteen-year-old boy from the Reservation. Did Edward know him or not? It seemed like they each had a personal vendetta against one another, but maybe she was just reading into something that wasn't really there…

"My family knows his family," Edward said, expanding the topic as little as possible. He could sense that she wasn't satisfied with his first answer.

"Oh," she said. "I see."

Bella remembered the Quileute tall tales about the Cullen family, and she was sure that Edward's family wouldn't have appreciated them marking them as people to be feared and shunned as outcasts. Their legends, after all, did mention his family's name specifically.

"You don't need to worry about what people think of those silly stories," she said, wanting to make sure Edward knew that she wasn't willing to buy into that nonsense. She wasn't superstitious in the least, even though she did have quite a strange past, but even _she _didn't yet fully realize just how odd her beginnings were.

"Stories?"

"Yeah," she said lightly, trying to show him how willing she was to brush off the old local lore. "Nobody actually buys into those old stories they tell on the Reservation."

Edward felt like he might have a heart attack, if it were physically possible.

"You _know_ about those?" He very nearly pulled the car over to interrogate her on how much she knew.

Was _this_ what she was trying to get out of him? Did she already know he was a vampire and she was waiting for him to admit it?

"I think everyone does," she said, and she wondered what was so terrible about the rumors. She was surprised to see how offended he really was - or so it seemed.

"No," Edward said, shaking his head. "Not everyone does. The Quileutes are _supposed_ to keep that stuff to themselves."

He really did know that not everyone knew those stories. In fact, that was a part of the Quileute's agreement with his family. They're not supposed to say a word to the "pale faces" about what the Cullens _really _are, and Edward knew that Bella counted as pale, so why did she know?

If the students at Forks High had ever heard those stories, they would quickly put two and two together. Everyone was already subconsciously suspicious of his family. Deep down, everyone knew that they were dangerous, but it was customary to brush off those deep-set human instincts on behalf of "logic." There was no such thing as a vampire; not in this day in age. That's why Carlisle agreed that it would be safe to return to the little town, now that people were less in tune with their instincts because of the technology they so heavily relied on.

"They're only dumb campfire stories," Bella reassured him. "They were probably just trying to scare me. That's all. That's how those guys have always been – anything to pull a prank on _me_. But don't worry. I'm not that gullible. Whatever they say about your family, you don't need to be self conscious about any of it."

A part of Edward wanted to come out with it all and tell her the truth; to tell her that whatever she'd heard was probably all true. There would be very little to exaggerate. He was a vampire, plain and simple. But the smarter part of him knew to keep his mouth shut on the matter.


	10. Chapter 10

Edward parked his car, placed his half mask over his eyes and then helped Bella make sure hers was secure as well.

As they walked into the gym, Bella's greatest fear was happening: She was clinging on to Edward's arm as the entire student body was turning toward them like sunflowers toward the sun.

"Who is she?" she heard many of the girls whispering toward one another.

She knew she looked _different _tonight thanks to Alice working her magic, but was she really so unrecognizable? All of the attention was putting her on edge and her instinct told her to run out of there, wipe her makeup off, and hide under her covers for the rest of the night.

"I don't think they know who I am," Bella whispered to Edward.

He leaned his ear close to her lips, acting as though he wouldn't have been able to hear her otherwise, but the truth was that he just wanted to feel the sensation of her warm breath against his skin.

"No one expects you to be here tonight," he reminded her. "And you're masked."

They walked right past Jessica. She obviously didn't recognize Bella because she was standing there with her jaw agape and her eyes bugging out.

"He brought someone from _another_ school," Bella heard her whisper angrily to some of the girls she was crowded against. "Like I said before, none of _us_ are good enough for that bastard!"

Edward felt Bella tense up even more.

"You're not nervous, are you?"

"No," she lied, but he knew better.

"You don't have to be ashamed of looking beautiful, Bella."

"I'm not," she said quickly. "I just don't want everyone staring at me. That's all."

"Well then we'd better turn around and get out of here, because there's no way they're going to stop. You are too gorgeous for your own good, I think."

"Don't say that."

"What? The _truth_?"

Bella let out a dry little laugh, hoping Edward would change the subject and talk about something else.

"Enjoy the night," Edward said, kissing the side of her head and pulling a loose strand of hair from her masked face, setting it behind her ear just so.

Everyone who was staring – which was pretty much _everyone_ – let out an audible gasp or made some kind of whispered comment about his sweet gesture, and Bella felt her cheeks turn bright pink. Edward simply _loved_ the extra warmth radiating from her body – regardless of the embarrassment it cost her.

Bella noticed Angela straight ahead of them, and the way she was looking at her made Bella wonder if Angela knew who she was.

"Angela," Bella called to her friend.

"I'm going to get you some refreshments," Edward said, giving Bella's hand a squeeze. He knew she'd be alright with Angela and that she probably even needed some alone time with a girlfriend – one who wouldn't stab her in the back for being here with him.

"Bella," Angela said with a hint of surprise in her voice. "I _knew_ it was you!"

The girls ran toward one another and started chit-chatting, and gradually, others in the large crowd began to recognize Bella too.

"It was all Alice's doing," Bella explained to Angela.

"Edward's sister?"

"Yup. She really can do anything, I think."

"Don't give my sister too much credit," Edward said, sneaking up behind Bella and handing her a tall flute glass of sparkling cider. "You were very beautiful to begin with. Alice's work is only as lovely as the palette she has to work with."

Again, Bella blushed and Edward reveled in it.

"Hey there," Jessica said, running up to Bella as soon as she'd recognized her. "I was hoping to see you here, Bella! You look wonderful."

Bella noticed that Jessica seemed just a little _too_ happy for her, and on top of that her smile was a little too plasticky and rehearsed. Deep down, Jessica was barely holding herself together. Up until Bella and Edward graced everyone with their presence to bask in the spotlight (as she saw it), _she_ was enjoying being the belle of the ball. Now, in her mind, that was attention that she would have to forfeit to Bella, and nothing brought out the stab-you-in-the-back bitch in Jessica more than competition over looks and boys.

"Thanks," Bella said, pretending that Jessica's words had been genuine, even though she was much too smart to brush off her own defensive instincts entirely. "You look lovely too."

In reality, Jessica's dress was very nice; however, she had bought it two sizes too small and squeezed into it like an overstuffed sausage. She was hoping this would make her breasts look bigger, but the fact was that it made every other part of her look bigger as well. Especially her butt. And her heels were too much for even _her_ to handle. Bella was worried that she, herself, would trip, but now she was worried for Jessica too.

"Well, you know, hot pink _is_ my color," Jessica bragged. "Scarlet is _yours_, I guess."

Bella took a deep breath, hoping Edward might take a clue.

"Yes," Bella whispered. "It _is_ mine."

She wished there was a way that Edward could know that she was referring to more than her dress.

"You both look very lovely," Angela said, hoping to keep the peace between friends tonight. She knew how Jessica could get and by the look of things, this would be one of those nights where Jessica wouldn't be satisfied until she believed she had "won."

Once again, everyone's heads turned up toward the door and focused on Emmett, Rose, Jasper and Alice. They'd gone with the ensemble theme of black and white: Rose in a glittery black gown and Alice in a lovely piece whose fabric looked like white marble. They looked perfect; but then, they _always_ looked perfect. Jessica never saw those two girls as competition. She had always been smart enough to know better. But tonight she would be out to get Bella because at least at school Bella blended in well enough with everyone else.

"_Why did she have to pick tonight to trump me?"_ Jessica's thoughts were consistently along this line throughout the night.

"Bella," Alice squealed as she ran toward her and Edward. "Well dear brother, what do you think?" She had both arms gestured toward Bella as if she was on display.

"You've done very well, sister," he said with a smirk.

"Yes," Alice agreed, lacking modesty in her grin. "I know I have. Well, enjoy the dance you two."

And she left them to enjoy one another and their surroundings.

Edward invited Bella to dance as soon as the first slow song started playing.

"I don't know if I should," Bella said sheepishly.

"Why not?"

"I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but… I can't dance."

"Nonsense," Edward said, taking one hand and sliding it against her waist, then taking her hand in his other. "Everyone _can_ dance. I suppose it's all a matter of whether or not one is interested in the company she keeps."

"I'm interested," Bella said, maybe a little too quickly she thought. Edward smiled.

"I'm interested in the company I am currently keeping as well."

Bella blushed yet a third time.

"It's just that I've never… _danced_ with anyone before."

"You know what? Neither have I, come to think of it."

"Never?"

"Not that I can remember." He was telling the truth. "I think I feel honored that I am your first."

Bella blushed again, and Edward wondered what the cause of the fourth time could be.

"Why do you blush?" he asked out loud accidentally.

Bella had read all of Jane Austen's novels one summer, and she remembered reading in one of the academic essays in the beginning of one of her books that Ms. Austen was using dance as a metaphor for sex. But she didn't want to let Edward know that _that_ was what was on her mind in that particular moment.

"I just remember something I read once," she said, being perfectly honest, yet perfectly obscure at the same time.

"What is it you read?"

"Oh, just an essay somewhere."

"One that makes you blush _now_?"

"Yeah…"

"Whatever could the topic have been?"

"Dancing."

Edward couldn't put the puzzle together without being able to read Bella's mind, so of course he was frustrated.

"What _about_ dancing?"

"Do you remember in _Pride & Prejudice_ how Elizabeth Bennet refuses to dance with Mr. Darcy because she is convinced she doesn't like him?" Edward nodded his head, waiting for her to continue. "And do you remember that when she agreed to dance with Mr. Collins, he was awful at it and kept stepping on her feet and the like, not to mention he was physically repulsive to her? But then later, Lizzy _does_ dance with Mr. Darcy and even though they have a somewhat heated discussion, they dance perfectly well together, almost like they're made for one another?"

"Are you referring to the notion that Jane Austen uses dancing in her novels as a way to figuratively illustrate how _compatible_ a couple is together?" He knew now _exactly_ why she blushed, but decided not to mention the word _sex_ so as to keep her at ease. "You know," he continued, "I agree with that idea. For example, Mr. Bingley dotes over no one but Elizabeth's sister Jane, and so he keeps her to himself at all the balls. They're always dancing together, actually. And they are tormented when kept apart and nothing will make them happy except to be married to one another. Obviously Jane Austen _does_ mean to show us the aftermath of a couple's marriage before they're actually married, and what better way to do this than through the description of an intimate act of dancing?"

Bella was surprised to find that she had been gracefully dancing with Edward the entire time they had been talking. In fact, the song was almost over.

Edward and Bella's eyes both caught Jessica then, rubbing herself up and down Mike.

"Like Mr. Darcy points out," Edward whispered with a laugh, "Any savage can dance."

Bella giggled, but then the mood shifted again back to a serious nature.

"How do you like dancing with me?" Edward asked. "Shall I do for a dancing partner, do you think?"

"I don't think I'll ever need another," Bella said.

Edward leaned in suddenly and Bella closed her eyes. Edward didn't care anymore; he was going to kiss her. He was going to kiss the girl of his dreams and his heart had made up his mind that he was going to be strictly honest with her about what he was.

But before his lips could reach hers, Jessica saw that he was going to kiss Bella and a jealous monster rose up inside of her and she leapt at them like a cobra. She crashed into Bella, knocking her backward into a long table lined with flute glasses, all of which went up a few feet before accelerating downward like hail overhead. Jessica rolled away quickly, but Bella lay there shocked as Gravity smashed glass all around her, and _of course_, eventually, a shard of shattered glass struck across a portion of her arm that wasn't covered by her gloves and Bella's blood flew everywhere.

Edward had tried to get to her in time; maybe there was a chance that he could shield her from the rain of sparkling cider and glass, but he couldn't make it without coming right out and showing _everyone_ how quickly he could move. He didn't get to her in time at his human rate of speed, but by the time the glass cut Bella, his lips were next to her upper arm and his mouth was open as he called her name. Strangely enough, a few drops of her blood made their way onto the tip of his tongue, and he pushed himself up off the floor where a large puddle of Bella's blood had spilt, and he flew sideways into Emmett and Alice, who caught him. He wiped his hands against his tux frantically, trying to get her blood off of them.

"Hold it together," Emmett warned him; then he offered him no more advice because to give more would mean to breathe in for air first and he wasn't going to tempt himself by permitting himself to smell Bella's blood.

"Edward," Alice cried, "I can't see _anything_ now. She needs to get to the hospital. That cut is really deep!"

Edward snapped back into reality, grabbed Bella by her arm and pulled her up.

"I'm so sorry," Jessica lied. "I tripped!"

"From seven feet away?" Rose screeched, and Jessica went frigid as stone as she realized that Rose was screaming at _her_. She'd never been addressed by her before and she was absolutely shocked that Rose was speaking to her now, especially in this harsh tone.

"It was an accident," she lied again.

Edward was mechanically leading Bella through the gym doors and to his car, doing his best to think of anything other than the delicious smell of her exposed blood all over his hands and all over the floor behind him.

"We don't _have_ to leave," Bella said. She so desperately wanted things to go back to the way they were before Jessica ruined everything. "It's nothing. I can wipe it up with some paper towels from the bathroom. It won't be a problem." He kept dragging her along, against her will now. "Edward… _Edward_!"

"I have to get you to Carlisle," he hissed, still trying to keep himself intact. "He can sew that up."

It didn't escape Bella's notice that Edward was refusing to look at her, and she wondered what she had done wrong.

"Stop there," shouted a strong voice from in front of Edward's car.

"Sam," Edward grunted angrily. "You have no business being here."

"We _do_, actually," said another voice. "You've been caught red-handed, Cullen."

Jake stepped forward out of the darkness, and Bella gasped.

"Jake? What are you doing here?"

"You should ask _him_ that," Sam answered her for him, nodding toward her date.

"Why?" Edward asked bitterly. "Your kind already broke the contract. Apparently, _someone_…" Edward stared straight at Jake, "… let it slip."

"I didn't know they were true at that time," Jake said defensively.

"Let _what_ slip?" Bella asked. "Jake: What didn't you know? What are they talking about?"

"I'm taking her to the hospital," Edward said matter-of-factly.

"Let _us_ have Bella," Sam said. "_We_ will make sure she gets to the hospital."

"No," Edward said sternly. "Bella is _my_ date." Again, he stared at Jake for half a moment, and he knew Jake was wondering if Bella knew that Edward really was a vampire. "She doesn't know anything," he continued, answering Jake's silent question. "Let's keep it that way."

"What don't I know?" Bella nearly begged out of frustration.

"This little reconnaissance mission you have going on here," Edward added, "It ends. Now."

Edward knew he would have to have a little talk with Carlisle to meet with the Elders of the Quileutes to get everything straightened out. He knew full well why these two had shown up. Some of Bella's blood had fallen onto his tongue, but it was _never_ his intention to taste it or anything of that sort. He was innocent.

He was scanning Jake's thoughts again only to find that tonight was the first night that he'd morphed into a Wolf. The poor kid was still shocked as hell that everything he'd heard about the Cullens was true, and everything about his ancestors turning into Wolves to guard the people was true too. He watched as Jake remembered going to Bella's house earlier to ask her not to go to the dance at all. Then, when he got home, he started shaking violently and just turned into a Wolf. He saw Jake's hands shake again now, and he knew the best thing for Bella would be to get her the hell out of there as quickly as he could. He didn't want her to see Jake change forms. She would have the hell scared out of her and more damage would be done than was already done, so he doubled the authority in his tone to get Sam off his back - for now, anyway.

"I'm taking her to see my father," Edward said. "She's not going to get hurt. What happened was an accident, and it wasn't my doing."

"That won't matter," Sam said.

"We'll see about that," Edward argued.

He opened the door for Bella then took the wheel and sped out of there as quickly as he could.

"What was all of that about?" Bella asked.

Edward rolled down both windows to help get the concentrated smell of Bella's blood out of his car and out of his mind – if that was even possible.

"I don't yet know what to say," Edward answered honestly, staring at the dried blood all over his hands; the flavor from the few drops that landed on his tongue was just now beginning to sink into his taste buds.

"The bleeding has slowed down a lot," Bella said, trying to be nonchalant about the horrible disaster that was the wound on her upper arm. "I think it will be fine."

"I need to make sure you don't have any glass in the cut," he said, staring straight ahead at the lines on the road now.

Bella looked over at the speedometer and gasped.

"Oh my God! Slow down! You're going a hundred miles an hour!"

But Edward tapped his foot down even further, driving even faster. Bella quickly fastened her seatbelt only to find that they were already at the hospital.

"Come with me," Edward demanded as he opened her door.

"Are you mad at me, Edward?"

The way she asked the question – like her spirits had been broken – pained him severely.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he sighed. "I'm so sorry if I'm being all wrong about this – if I'm being _rude_. Of course I'm not angry with you. I have no reason to be; you've done nothing wrong. But I'm very worried about you. I don't want to put you in any danger."

"Then don't drive a hundred miles an hour," she said, hoping to get a laugh out of him. But none came, and she felt let down at that.

The hospital doors slid open automatically and Edward walked right past Admissions, guiding her straight to Carlisle's office.

"What's happened here?" Carlisle asked as soon as he saw the pair.

"Bella had an accident," Edward answered. "And the Wolves are having a fit."

...

A/N: Thank you Miss 84gemstone, for the polyvore! www DOT polyvore DOT com/cgi/set?id=36089685


	11. Chapter 11

Was he _serious_? Bella couldn't help but overhear how Edward used the word, and in a condescending tone, no less. He must have meant it sarcastically; as a way of making fun of the Quileutes for their rude stories regarding his family.

Carlisle quickly reached for his medic bag and began pulling little shards of glass out of Bella's wound.

"I'm sorry that this will sting for a bit," he apologized.

"It's… uh, it's okay."

Edward ran over to the sink and started scrubbing his hands.

"I think you got it all off," Bella said while watching him.

"No," he said in a panicked tone, "There's still blood on me."

He turned the water as hot as it could go and then stepped back, shaking his hands around when the water scalded them.

"Impossible," he screeched desperately. He was obviously in a lot of pain.

"That's what happens when you pour boiling water over your hands, Edward," Bella said. "Trust me. I think you got all of the blood off."

Carlisle paused from his painful task momentarily and stared at Edward, then resumed.

"Are you alright, Edward?" he asked very calmly, as if what Edward felt ought to have been a 'normal' thing.

"They burned," Edward whispered. "I felt them burning under the hot water."

Bella wanted to say _no duh_, but she held her tongue.

"Reach into my bag," Carlisle said. "There is some Silvadene you can rub on your hands that will relieve the symptoms of the burn.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Edward couldn't believe that _he_ would need first aid supplies fit for a _human_.

"Wouldn't you rather be safe than sorry?" Carlisle asked.

Edward reached into the bag and pulled out the ointment, then slathered it over his hands. He was awestruck that the hot water had scorched them like that. He'd never felt a burn before in his life, other than the change he had undergone while becoming a vampire. But now that he was one, wasn't he supposed to be immune to extreme temperatures of any kind? He was a little overwhelmed by the surprise, naturally.

He returned to the faucet and set the water so that it wasn't quite so hot as to boil, then ran it over his wrist. There was no sensation. Then he ran it over his hands again, and _they_ could feel the heat. What did any of this mean? Why were his hands doing this?

He was desperate to tell Carlisle all that had happened with Bella's blood touching his tongue and with the Wolves showing up at the dance, but he couldn't say a word about any of it while Bella was in their presence. He looked at her face and began to worry at what she was thinking about. She looked confused and worried.

And she _was_ worried. She wondered why Edward was freaking out like this. She decided that he must not handle stress very well or something because all in all, even though there had been glass in her arm, Carlisle got it all out now and was stitching her up. She would be just fine. Edward didn't have to be all OCD about scrubbing his hands under scalding hot water and he didn't have to have a panic attack about any of this.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

His only reply was a strange laughter and he quickly left Carlisle's office, closing the door behind him.

"I'll be right back, Bella. I'd better check on Edward."

"Please _do_," Bella agreed.

Carlisle went after Edward and found that he was already half way down the hall by the time he'd opened his office door.

"Edward," he called after the boy everyone assumed to be his son.

"Something is _wrong_ with me, Carlisle," he whispered sharply when Carlisle had finally caught up to him. "I don't know what it is, but something is terribly wrong!"

"Your mind is probably playing tricks on you, son. You just had to endure smelling her blood, and it was all over your hands. I'm surprised you handled it as well as you did back there."

"It's not that," Edward argued. "Something _else_ is wrong. The Wolves – they showed up at the dance demanding that I hand Bella over to them. Her blood got on me – on my tongue – when she tripped into a table of glasses. The Quileutes must have been able to sense it because they showed up on cue as if I'd slaughtered someone. Everything was an accident. And my _hands_!"

"What happened to them? Why did you act like they'd been burned?"

"Because they _were_ burned! Look!"

Carlisle examined Edward's hands and saw for himself that they had indeed been burned, and that they were now warm like a human's as well.

"These will heal," he said.

"How do you know that?"

"Look at the inflammation. It is pushing away any infection as we speak and your hands will be fine."

"But will they always be this way? It's like they're the hands of a mortal! _I'm_ not a mortal! I'm a…" Edward trailed off and then lowered his voice. "Well, you _know_ what I am, and just look at my hands. Why are they doing this?"

"What happened to your hands today that was out of the ordinary?"

"Other than the fact that they were just covered in Bella's blood, nothing."

Carlisle pondered over the facts. "Hmm," he wondered out loud.

"What? What is it?"

"I don't yet know. I think you should take her home. Explain to Charlie what happened to her and apologize for the evening going so terribly, and then come straight home. I'll be waiting for you. We have to get things settled with the Quileutes before this gets out of hand."

Edward nodded and then returned to Carlisle's office where Bella was waiting for him.

"I'm sorry," he said, helping her up from her chair. "I didn't mean to act that way. I hope you don't think less of me."

"I don't," Bella said reassuringly.

"I think I should take you home. I'm sorry the night was ruined."

She followed Edward to his car and sighed after he closed her door for her. Less than an hour ago he was about to kiss her, and now that probably wasn't going to happen. Everything was a disaster now and Bella felt as though she was going to start sobbing.

Edward drove Bella home without saying a word. He was waiting for _her_ to say something, but then, she was waiting for _him_ to say something, and the entire twenty minutes was spent with nothing being said.

Bella was upset that her father's police cruiser was parked in the driveway. She wasn't sure that she would be able to make it from the front door to her bedroom upstairs without breaking out the water works and she didn't want Charlie to ask any questions. She just wanted to get out of the dress and into bed. She scolded herself for not running out of the dance when she first had the thought to.

Edward walked her up to the front door, and Bella was hoping that he'd leave it at that, but he insisted on telling Charlie what happened.

"Let _me_ break the news," she said.

"It would be dishonorable to leave now, considering that _I_ am the one responsible for you tonight…"

"No," Bella said flatly, cutting him off. "Good night, Edward."

She felt bitter for some reason. Just because she had been cut a little – why did that mean that he had to go and act all retarded like this? Why couldn't he still kiss her? Since they'd left the dance, he showed pretty much no romantic interest in her whatsoever, and she wondered if he ever would again.

But Edward was just embarrassed by all that had happened. He was ashamed for letting it slip that those two Quileute boys were Wolves and the expression on Bella's face when she'd heard that was one of disbelief. Surely she would have considered him crazy now for believing the very same "scary stories" that she had so adamantly denounced just hours earlier. He was afraid that she would never view him in a romantic light ever again, when exactly the opposite was true.

"Good night, Bella," he replied, and then he watched as she crossed through her doorway and closed it behind her without even looking back at him.

"Shit," he hissed as he scuffed his feet toward his car. He hated how things had been left between them, but he also had to keep in mind the fact that he had to hurry home. There would be no time to waste now.

Bella heard Charlie on the phone in the kitchen and he sounded worried. Had he already heard her terrible news? Was he angry at her? Was he angry at Edward?

"Dad?" she asked, walking toward the kitchen.

He held his hand up to her to indicate for her to hold her tongue while he listened very carefully into the receiver.

"Are you sure they'll be alright?" he asked.

Bella wondered what was going on.

"I think you ought to take 'em to the hospital, Billy. It could get serious and you should have them checked out by a doctor before things get even worse."

Was everything alright on the Reservation?

"Well then, if you're sure… but I'd still think it worth the time to make a trip to the hospital."

Who was hurt? What had happened?

Charlie hung up the phone.

"You might want to go visit Jake," he said sadly.

"What's happened?" she asked quickly. "Has he been hurt?"

"He's really sick. He can't even walk by the sound of it."

That was certainly strange. She had just seen him a little over an hour ago, and he seemed perfectly healthy then.

"What's the matter with him?"

"Well, no one really knows. I don't think anyone will know any details either; not until they see a doctor."

"They?"

"Sam, and some other boys too. They've all come down with something, even just in the last few hours. No one on that Reservation trusts hospitals; never have. It would do them some good to set their superstitions aside and take a damn pill once in awhile."

Bella ran upstairs and changed her clothes, then went back to the kitchen to make a call. She realized she didn't even have Edward's number, so she thumbed through the thin little phonebook that was in the drawer under the phone.

"Hello, is Edward there?" A woman had answered the voice; maybe it was Mrs. Cullen?

"Hello?" he asked. "Are you alright Bella?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was wondering if your father was home tonight."

"Why do you ask? Is something the matter with how your arm is dressed?"

"No. The stitches are fine. I'm actually calling for a friend. I think something might be wrong, but I'm not sure. He needs to see a doctor and I thought maybe your dad could help?"

"Who is it?"

"You know _of_ Jake Black, right?"

There was a long pause.

"Well," Bella continued, "It's him. And some of the other boys on the Reservation too."

"What's the matter with them?"

"I don't know. No one has given any details."

"I don't know if we're allowed on their land," Edward said, and Bella was surprised to hear that.

"That's ridiculous! Your dad would only be there to help them. Surely they could make an exception for just one night."

"I'll call you back," Edward said. "Wait by the phone."

Bella hung up and waited. What was going on? It was a few minutes before the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Bella, this is Dr. Cullen. I've made an arrangement with the W – … with the Quileutes. They've agreed to allow _me_ onto their Reservation, but only if you come with me, and no one else from my family is permitted to trespass. Would it be alright with you if I picked you up from your home and we went together?"

"That would be fine," she agreed, but the truth was that she was a little angry at Jake and his tribe for acting this way toward the Cullen family; especially when Dr. Cullen was so willing to help them without expecting anything in return.

She explained to Charlie the situation and Charlie was also angry at the Quileutes for behaving this way toward the Cullens, but he was glad that Bella was helping them see reason by having them accept a doctor's help. He admitted that Billy made it sound like whatever illness those boys had come down with, that things had turned rather serious very quickly.

It didn't take long for Carlisle to arrive. Bella recognized the now-familiar medic bag in his back seat.

"I never thanked you for patching up my arm. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Bella. Think nothing of it. I am happy I could help."

Bella wondered how rude it would be to ask questions about what was going on between the Cullens and the Quileutes, but she decided that if she never asked then she'd never know.

"Why do the Quileutes defame your family's name in their legends?"

"It's a very long, and I'm sorry to say _complicated_ story."

"I'm sure I can keep up," Bella said, pushing him for an answer in as polite of a way as she knew how.

"I'm not sure what you'll see tonight, Bella," Carlisle started, "But I'd appreciate it if you would tolerate whatever you see and hear, and not repeat a word of it to anyone off of the Reservation."

"What is it you think I might see or hear?"

"It's difficult to say how far things will go tonight. I can tell you the worst case scenario, but if it doesn't come to that then I'm afraid you'll simply think I was crazy for suggesting it. Let's just wait and see, shall we? You'll know what I mean when it arrives."

Bella tried to relax in her seat as much as she could on the way to the Quileute's lands, but she felt very tense in her heart. It's not only that the perfect night she was hoping for had been ruined, but she felt uneasy as Carlisle drove along the roads that passed by the waters.

_Bella_, she heard, or rather _felt_ something call to her.

She shrugged it off, telling herself that she must be getting tired and reasoning that she'd been through quite an ordeal and that the stress must finally be catching up to her.

_Bella_, it called to her again, and again she tried to relax.

But it called to her a third time, and this time by a name that no one had ever addressed her by out loud: _Scarlett…_

Bella gasped and Carlisle turned to her.

"Did you hear that?" she asked frantically.

"Hear… _what_ exactly?"

"Someone – some _thing_ – just called my name."

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't hear anything."

He looked ahead at the road and continued driving, but he had no doubt in his mind that Bella really did hear something, even if he didn't. He already knew that Bella was very special, even if he wasn't in on what the particulars were.

Everyone on the Reservation was staring at Carlisle when he hopped out of his car. He knew they didn't trust him just because of who he was in their stories; he couldn't imagine what they would think of him if they all knew that their stories were actually _true_! He imagined they would probably run rather than shoot him dirty looks.

"Come on," Bella said, pointing toward Jake's house. "We're headed this way."

"I've never been near their homes before," Carlisle said.

"Of course not. You just moved here last summer, right?"

"Right," he said for the sake of agreeing with her; she didn't know that he and his family had occupied these regions before – nearly a hundred years ago, even.

Bella knocked on Jake's door, and his father Billy answered.

"Bella," he greeted her. "I see you've brought the witch doctor."

"No sir," Carlisle sort of laughed, hoping to help better Billy's grave mood. "Not a witch, just a medic."

"Same thing," Billy sighed. "They're in the living room."

There were four boys sprawled out over a couch, a love seat, and Jake was shivering on the floor.

"Oh my God, Jake," Bella gasped, rushing to his side. "What's happened?"

She lifted his hand and was surprised at how cold and weak he was. She'd never seen anyone this way before, especially a young boy in the prime of his adolescence.

"Bella," he said, his voice weak and shaky. He was looking around aimlessly, and Bella realized that he couldn't see her.

"Are you _blind_?" she asked with worry.

"I'm not," he answered. "Everything is just really blurry right now. It comes and goes."

"For how long has this been going on?"

"Just the last hour or so."

"It's getting worse, then?" Carlisle asked.

Sam shook his head in agreement.

"Is that the blood sucker?" a boy asked. Bella knew his name to be Embry.

"Settle down, boy," Billy said. "The good doctor is just here to help, aren't you Doc?" Billy was obviously trying to reassure the kid, but it sounded like _he_ himself wasn't sure of Carlisle's intentions.

"I promise you sir, I am here to help figure out what is the matter with these boys and to help find a cure for what causes this sickness. I will do my best to make sure they come back to health."

"Are you aware of these boys' unique circumstances, though?" Billy asked, almost in a whisper.

"I'm sure I can accurately _guess_," Carlisle answered, just as secretively.

Bella wondered what was going on, but she didn't want to be a hassle or stand in the way of Carlisle helping out as best he could, so she decided to keep her mouth shut instead of asking what they meant with all of their hushed tones and what seemed to be a spoken code that they could understand and that _she_ couldn't.

"May I examine them?" Carlisle asked.

"Do what you need to do, Doc," Billy answered.

The boys were too weak to get up and come to Carlisle, so he went to them. He had his medic bag in hand and he pulled out a stethoscope and listened to Jake's heart and lungs first.

"Quite irregular," he noted verbally. "It sounds as if there is something in the lungs, maybe leaking in?"

He listened to Sam next, and then Embry, and then to a boy named Quil.

"They all sound the same," Carlisle said. "It's not only their lungs, but their heartbeats are irregular as well. They are shivering and sweating and I can tell by their body language that they are quite stressed. Has that only been since _I_ arrived, or did they appear to be this stressed before I entered the home?"

"It appears to me that nothing's changed," Billy answered. "I don't think it's _you_ they're reacting to. It must be something else."

"If I'm not mistaken, aren't these the symptoms their bodies show directly before each time they… _change_?"

Billy nodded his head and Bella wondered what was meant by "they change."

"So, it appears that their bodies are trying to morph right now, but find themselves stunted. I wonder why that is? Who was the first to undergo the change?"

"Sam," Billy said. "A couple of weeks ago was his first time."

"And then?"

"My boy here, Jake. Just this afternoon, in fact. The other two boys followed suit tonight, but they never actually did change. They just looked like they were going to, but then they stalled. Harry Clearwater and I carried them in here just awhile ago. Bella's dad was going to come out tonight for the midnight fishing trip we'd all planned, but I couldn't have him out here to see them like this. He might have called an ambulance."

Bella wondered why that would have been a bad thing. In her opinion, these boys _needed_ to be taken to a hospital to be examined and healed. Of course, she didn't realize that they were supernatural creatures that no hospital was equipped to deal with.

"I wonder if maybe the reason they're stalling is because instinctively they believe that some wrong has been done on _our_ part, but in reality, a mistake has been made that had nothing to do with being our fault. Are you aware of what happened to Bella at the high school dance tonight?"

Billy looked at her arm, noticing the blood-spotted gauze.

"Think of it, Billy. You _know_ the information that your fathers handed down to your people. They told you of how one becomes like one of us. That has _not_ happened to Bella. If it did, she wouldn't be walking any better than your boys. No harm has come to her, but your Tribe's defenses are so willing to attack without knowing all the facts. Maybe they are being held back from doing damage to us unlawfully."

"Don't try to spin this as being _our_ fault," Billy said aggressively. Bella had no clue what Carlisle was talking about, but he'd obviously just said something to offend Billy.

"I'm not making this a matter of _fault_," Carlisle said. "Perhaps they will return to normal if you were to call things off."

"I'm not willing to break an ancient contract that my fathers before me have made. It is what it is."

"Then there may be nothing that can be done for these kids."

"It is what it is."

Bella was suddenly startled by a growl followed by a low, moaning howl coming from the living room. Something was the matter with Sam, she noticed. Half his body was suddenly covered with hair and what looked like the incisors of a canine were splitting out from where his teeth should have been.

"God!" Bella cried. "What is happening?" Suddenly the reality of the situation hit her! "You really _are_ Wolves!"

She felt sick to her stomach then, but she stayed strong and sat down next to Jake.

"You too?" she asked.

He whimpered as he nodded his head; he was obviously in so much pain – too much to get a word out, but she knew he was revealing what he was to her.

"I didn't know," she started to say, but she didn't know how to say what she wanted. "Can you not turn into one now?"

He shook his head.

"And is this because of _me_?"

Jake shook his head again, indicating that this wasn't her fault, but she wasn't willing to buy that. She figured that somehow, at least some of this was caused by her.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"No- no- nothing," he answered through the pain, still shivering.

"Carlisle?" Bella asked. "Is there anything that can be done for them now? Anything for the pain?"

"Anything I could give any one of them for the pain they feel would do no good, Bella. Their bodies would simply burn straight through it in a few moments and they would be even worse off than when they'd started. There's only _one _thing I can think of to do for them," he said, turning to Billy then.

"It is what it is," Billy muttered darkly. "If our fathers' contract found your family guilty, then you are guilty. I will not call it off. One of you drank _her_ blood!"

"No one drank my blood!" Bella realized she had shouted, but she didn't feel sorry because of it. "Are you crazy? No one did anything of that sort! They are _not_ vampires, Billy!"

"And we're not Wolves, Bella," was the man's only reply.

"Come on, Bella. There is nothing more that can be done here. I need to get you home. You've had a long evening and you need to let your body rest."

Bella followed Carlisle back out to his car.

"What did you mean back there by a contract? How can a document help them? Why won't Billy be willing to do whatever it takes to save those boys?"

He waited until they were driving out of the Reservation's borders before he started his reply.

"It's not a document that we were speaking of, Bella. It's a type of, well, of _magic_. The Quileutes and the Cullens," (he opted to leave out the fact that by Cullens he meant he and his current family members, and not his father or grandfather, for instance), "Entered into a verbal agreement a long time ago. Basically, if the Cullens stayed off of their land and if no one ever got hurt because of the Cullens then the Cullens would be left alone, but if either of those things were not honored by my family then they would have the right to destroy us."

"Why would anyone agree to such a contract? To allow their family to be destroyed by a pack of angry wolves?"

"Because we never thought we'd ever hurt anyone."

"And your family hasn't hurt anyone. It was Jessica Stanley. She _pushed_ me into a table full of glasses tonight and that's how I got hurt. If someone wants to turn into a wolf and slash someone to death about it, then they ought to slash _her_."

"I'm afraid things are not quite that simple."

"They never are," she sighed.

Carlisle dropped Bella off at her house and she noticed her Grandmother's car parked behind Charlie's cruiser. Bella wondered what _she_ could be doing there at such a late hour, and why she'd come unannounced. Did she know that things had taken a terrible turn with Edward tonight? Was she here to help Bella figure out how to get back on track? Would all of these complicated things just disappear if he could only remember her _real_ name?

"Thanks for trying to help them," Bella said as she hopped out of the car.

"I can't imagine what must be going through your head right now, Bella. I'm sorry you had to find out about your friends this way. I'm sure it's a lot to process."

"I'll be fine," she said calmly. "I've actually heard of stranger things."

Carlisle chuckled to himself as she slammed the car door shut and ran to her front door.


	12. Chapter 12

"Gran?" Bella called as she opened her front door.

"I'm in here," was her reply. Her voice was coming from the kitchen table, but the lights were out all through the house. "Shh. Don't wake your father."

Bella walked lightly to the kitchen and started to turn on the lights, but was quickly told not to.

"I've got it covered," Violet said, lighting one candle and then another. There was a bowl of water on the table between the candlesticks.

"Gran – you won't believe what…"

"I already know everything," she said; she sounded frustrated.

"I'm not sure what step to take next. Everything went so _wrong_ tonight. It was terrible."

"Let's focus on the future and not the past," Violet said seriously, and then she chuckled. "Ironically enough, however, _your_ future _is_ the past. Now come – give me your hands."

Bella placed her hands in Violet's and was immediately started by the feel of them.

"Gran! What is the matter with your hands?" They seemed to be fading in some way, and Bella instinctively tried to pull hers away, but Violet held them securely in her own.

"Don't let go," she said. "There isn't much time. I must let you know all that I am allowed to reveal to you before all is lost entirely. I've brought you something. It's in my bag next to my chair. Look through it when our conversation is finished."

"Okay," Bella agreed. "I will."

"Now, listen very carefully. I can only tell you this once: Your Wolves are not well, Bella. They are in very serious danger. Eventually, more boys will change to compensate for the ones that will die tonight."

"Die?"

"Just listen, child. There is something you can do. If more boys change into Wolves, they will attack the Cullen family, but they will be slaughtered. Eventually every _thing_ like the Cullens will come and hunt down every Quileute descendant, and they will all be slaughtered. It's not that the Cullens will initiate the counter-attack, but they have many friends who will believe that they are doing that family a favor. So many people will die, and that's what you're here to stop."

"Why was I sent here at all?" Bella asked. "It's because of _me_ that all of this got started."

"War between the clan and the tribe would have broken out eventually."

"How can I save Jake and the other boys?"

"It's _your_ blood, Bella. It's always been magical. It's in all of our family, whether we realize this fact or not. Some generations choose to ignore their special gifts and it is for this reason that my son is not able to hear the waters calling to him. There is nothing he can do to prevent war from breaking out."

A chill ran up Bella's spine, for indeed, _she_ had heard the waters calling to _her_ just earlier.

"What do the waters want from me? What must I do?"

"The waters are where our line of magic comes from, in a way. It was that magic that sent you here to prevent the eventual bloodshed."

"I thought the waters sent me here to fall in love with Edward again."

"And so you _have_. And he has fallen in love with _you_ too. But time has reached a point where this thing must be asked of you. I'm sorry it must be this way."

"_What_ way?"

"The magic that runs through your blood must be given to the Tribe to save them."

"How do I give it to them?"

"Spill it on their grounds."

"How much of it?"

Violet's hands began to fade even more, and Bella hung on to her grandmother very tightly, but the harder she squeezed her hands, the more they felt like they would disappear altogether.

"_All_ of it," Violet stated very matter-of-factly.

"To die?" Bella asked. "And what of _you_? How will you come into the picture if not for Edward and I marrying and…"

"I'm willing," she said. "I must be willing. This is a noble thing. And I will always know that somewhere, in _some_ time somehow, I lived a long and happy life. I will know that a granddaughter was sent to me who made me very proud in accomplishing this very brave thing."

"And somewhere, in _some_ time and somehow, _I_ lived too. Was I happy, Gran? When I died, I mean… was I a happy woman?"

"You were happy all the days I knew you, sweetheart. You have always been a kind and noble soul, and that's how I know you will do this thing that is right."

"I'm so sorry I failed so miserably."

"There is no measure of success or failure, dear. It's all only ever been a matter of doing the right things for the greater good. That is what our family has always been about. We sacrifice and go unnoticed while we do so. Your father, for instance – no wonder he is the Chief of Police in these parts. I know you weren't around when you were younger, and I'm sorry you never got to see your father put in such tireless, self-sacrificing effort. But even if he doesn't recognize his magic, he does respond to the call of working hard for the greater good of all these people. That is what _you_ must do too."

"I wish things could turn out differently," Bella said, starting to cry. "I know I've lived a life of love before, but I don't remember it. I can _feel_ it when I'm around Edward, but I can't remember our life together at all. I feel as though I've never had the chance to live that life and now I'm afraid that I never will."

"It is a lot to sacrifice; I know it." The matter that made up her hands were even thinner now, and Bella's fingers slipped through her hands as if she was now nothing more than a ghost – or a shadow with a face.

"Will I ever see you again?" Bella asked.

"I know you will. Somehow, you _will_."

"But how do you know?"

"Fate has chosen to keep us together – to put us together again, you and I. Maybe she still has plans for the two of us? You never know."

Bella tried to smile, hoping that what Violet was suggesting could be true.

"I hope Fate will always bring us together."

"I love you, dear one."

"I love you too."

Then Violet faded away entirely, and the bowl of water was empty. Wax was dripping down the candles, and Bella blew out the flimsy flames before grabbing the bag Violet told her of and heading out of the kitchen. On the way to the stairs, Bella peeked out of the window only to find that her Grandmother's car was no longer parked in the driveway.

Bella ran up to her room and searched the bag only to find an old photo album. Many of the slick pages were pictureless, but who would place blank prints in an album? Others only showed landscapes or had one or two people in them, but the way the people were placed suggested that others from the photos had vanished as Violet had.

Bella tossed the album on her bed, realizing that she couldn't postpone her duty to think about what she ought to do. She already knew what must be done.

She ran down the stairs, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and then ran out the door to the truck. She fired it up immediately and headed straight for Quileute territory. The truck lurched to a stop in front of Jake's house and she left the knife sitting on the passenger seat. She didn't even bother knocking on the door, but just barged right in to Billy's surprise.

"Bella," he said, startled.

The boys/Wolves looked to be in no better condition than they had been in when she and Carlisle left.

"You are stubborn," she hissed at Billy. "Just look at them! Now, I don't know what is going on with this contract of yours, but I can see you are not willing to have your pride hurt by releasing that family from whatever obligation you feel they are under."

"You're meddling in things you don't understand, girl."

"Shut it, Billy. Let me finish," she huffed back. She wasn't going to be intimidated by this man, especially if she was just about to give up her own life and all because he was too much of a stubborn ass to fix things himself. "You're right that I don't understand. And I will _never_ understand you. I don't see how you can allow your own son to die like this!"

"He isn't going to die," Billy argued, but Bella could discern the worry in the man's face; especially in his eyes. It was clear to her that he understood very well that his son – and these other boys – could very well die tonight.

"As far as I'm concerned, _you _are responsible for whoever dies tonight."

She didn't let him in on the fact that _she _would be the one dead come morning. Instead, she stormed out and pulled the knife from her truck, then started walking aimlessly.

The wind blew through her hair and she started crying. She didn't _want _to die…

Meanwhile, as soon as Bella had left, Edward showed up at Bella's house. He'd climbed through her window, which had become quite the regular routine. He was disconcerted when he found that she wasn't sleeping in her bed as he had planned.

No, he didn't find _Bella_ in her bed, but he did find the album.

"What's this?" he wondered out loud to himself.

He opened to the first page to find a picture of Bella in a lovely gown and a half-faded picture of himself in a tux. One of the names scribed underneath had faded so that he could only tell that it said "… and Edward Cullen." He looked through the rest of the photos, finding many blank ones as Bella had.

As he was turning the pages, his finger grazed across one of the papers in such a way as to give him a paper cut. Red blood oozed slowly from the tip of his finger and smeared across the page.

"Blood?" he asked himself out loud. He was startled by the sight of it, and by the fact that it smelled like nothing at all to him.

He turned back to the first photo again only to find his own name half faded and Bella's picture almost entirely gone too.

He didn't understand why there was a picture of them and why they were fading, but he knew something was wrong. He could sense that much, at least.

Immediately he wondered if Bella had returned to the Reservation. His instinct told him to go there, but he knew he would cause trouble by crossing onto the Wolve's lands uninvited.

He dropped the album back where he found it, and then turned to pace the room for a moment. After a great deal of debating in his head what he should do, he came to a decision when he turned back around only to find that the album had disappeared.

He jumped out the window, landing gracefully on his feet. He didn't bother getting into his car, but ran straight toward the Reservation. He'd crossed the borders and then regretted not taking his car as his brow began to sweat, and he slowed down tremendously. Suddenly, he felt _tired_ from all of the running.

Edward didn't know where Bella was exactly, but he could _feel_ something calling to him in a way. It was the same thing that was calling to Bella at that moment.

_Scarlett,_ a soothing voice came from the ocean. _Scarlett, return home now. _

"Home?" Bella asked. "Where is home."

_Come back to the water._

Bella grabbed the knife firmly, hoping that by pretending to be brave, she actually would be; however, it never came to that. She felt cowardly and wanted to drop the knife and go home to her warm bed. But how long would she last here? When would she disappear like Grandmother Violet? She knew in her heart that it was only a matter of time before Charlie faded, and then her…

"This is so hard to do," she cried to the air and the waves. "This is so hard…"

She sobbed openly, still clenching the knife in her hand, and then she walked into the water until it reached the top of her knees.

"Bella?"

It was another voice, and not from the sea. She turned around.

"Edward?"

"Bella, what are you doing?" He noticed the knife in her hand right away.

"I'm sorry, Edward," she said, and she began to slide the tip of the knife down her wrist. There would be nothing he could do to save her in time.

"Bella!" he screamed.

He ran to her and caught her before she could fall into the water face-first. He held her in his arms as the blood drained from her arm.

He pulled the sleeve off of his shirt and tried to bandage her arm, but even with all the pressure he could apply it would be no use. The cut was too deep and she'd already lost so much blood.

"I love you," he whimpered.

"I'm so happy you said that," she said with a weak smile, "Because I wanted to tell you that I love you too."

"Why did you do this thing?" he moaned into her hair. "Why did you do this?"

She pushed her ear to his chest and realized that his heart was _not_ beating, and then she began to cry again.

"There is no hope," she moaned. "Was there never any hope for us? For you to remember me?"

"To remember you?" he asked.

She was very weak now, and unable to remember why she was crying. Her vision was blurring and she slumped over, losing all control of her legs.

"Bella," he shouted, hoping she would come to, but he knew she was gone now.

He picked her up and then bent down to reach into the water. He searched for a moment until he found the knife, then he picked it up, pricking the side of his hand at first, causing it to bleed.

He lay his one true love down on the beach, then felt the prick of tears forming in his eyes. He began to breathe heavily, as one would when panicking. He felt his heart beat heavily – a sound he hadn't heard in nearly a hundred years, and then the waters called to him too.

_Edward_, they lulled, soothing him for half a second.

After hearing his own name calling him, he then remembered Bella's true name.

"Scarlett," he cried over her body, hoping the mere mention of her name would somehow bring her back to him. "Please, don't let it be too late! Scarlett!"

She didn't move. She wasn't coming back to him.

"Then I must come to _you_."

He listened to his heart drumming away in his chest, and he hated the way it sounded without her in his life. He hated his heart beating and hers being silent. He held the knife high, knowing that he would have to have as much force as he could muster as he did what he knew he must do to see Scarlett again.

Without hesitation, he brought the knife down quickly, stabbing himself through his heart.

He coughed out a painful cry and then fell to his side next to her, and he slowly waited to die. He didn't concentrate on how much he hurt, or on how his heart rate sped up before it decelerated entirely. He didn't bother looking down at all of the blood leaking from his body, and so he never saw how it looked black against the sands in the moonlight.

All he focused on was the hope of seeing _her_ again.


	13. Chapter 13

Bella felt the waves of the ocean lapping over her face, tugging against her hair as if tempting them to drag her into the tide. She sensed a presence next to her and felt that if she would just open her eyes, she would see who it was.

She opened them.

"Edward?" she asked.

He was standing next to her holding a Champaign glass in one hand, offering her a glass with the other. They were on the patio of a brick home, overlooking a river and the lights of what appeared to be a small city. Many voices were coming from inside, and so was music and joyful laughter.

"Bella," he said happily, and then they smiled at one another.

They both remembered all that had happened.

"I'm so glad to see you're doing so much better, Mr. Masen," said a familiar voice.

"Thank you Dr. Cullen," Edward said, not sure if the _man_ speaking now remembered everything too.

"For a moment there," Carlisle continued, "I was afraid we were going to lose you." And with that, he walked back in through double French doors and rejoined the large party.

"You're not hiding out here, you two?" It was Edward's mother, come to tease them.

"Mother," Edward said, "This is Bella." He couldn't think of anything else to say, or to do, other than introduce the two women.

"Very amusing," she laughed. "Come on in. It's _your _engagement party, and everyone would like to wish you luck."

"We'll be right in, mother," Edward said.

"And Scarlett," his mother continued before turning to leave, "Your dress looks very lovely."

Edward looked at it and noticed it was the same one from the faded picture he had looked through just an hour or so earlier.

He needed to take a deep breath, and to slow down so that his human mind could absorb all that was happening here.

"May I take the happy couple's photo?" asked a man with a giant camera – nothing like the two of them were _used_ to seeing, having just come from the future where digital cameras were a dime a dozen and smaller than the palm of one's hand.

"Of course," Bella said happily.

They posed for what would become the front page of their future family's Memory Album.

…

…

…

Charlie had been so busy studying for his final legal exams for Police Academy, and Renee wondered if now was really the best time to deliver this particular news. She wanted his mind to be sharp so that he would do his best, but she was bursting at the seam with excitement and she just couldn't postpone anymore. Besides, it would only be a short matter of time before she would begin to show.

"Charlie," she said after dinner one night.

The couple had been married for going on a year now, and it was no secret that the pair had hoped for this news to come.

Deep in his heart, Charlie knew what his beloved wife was about to tell him, and his heart nearly missed a beat from the excitement. He rejoiced when she told him that they would be expecting a baby.

She was absolutely thrilled because she knew that everything about her having this baby would be entirely honest. Just the night before, she'd had a dream that she'd lied to Charlie and faked a pregnancy with his mother's help. When she woke up, she laughed at the preposterous idea and shook her head.

Later that night, after Renee and Charlie celebrated their happy news over ice cream, as Renee was doing the dishes she decided that it was finally time to dust off the finer things in the curio they had been given as a wedding gift. Many of the things in it were very old, and they had been passed down through the generations of Charlie's family.

She got out the silver polish and got to work. After polishing the candlesticks and the finer ware, she came across a silver box. She opened it up and found an old black and white wedding photo of the girl in her dream who was her daughter and a boy she'd never met. On the back was scribed "Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen, married 1920." Underneath the names was a handwritten message, and Renee gasped when she read it:

_Dear Renee,_

_Someday you'll find this. Thank you for being a wonderful mother and for doing what was the right thing to do at the time. Such is the nature of self-sacrifice. I know everything was difficult for you then, but I also know that you'll find true happiness all your own with Charlie this time around. _

_Love,_

_Bella_

…

…

…

Author's Note: Thank you to all who read and a special thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Happy Reading in all things Fanfic,

Stephanie

...

Poly from 84gemstone: www DOT polyvore DOT com/cgi/set?id=36345796


	14. From The Author's Corner

FROM THE AUTHOR'S CORNER: My, how things do change.

Always, when I am creating a fanfic, I stray from the original outline. Maybe it isn't like that for some authors, but it has been that way for me every time. I've decided to post _some_ of the actual outline notes, just so you can see for yourself how stories have the power to take on a life of their own and change midway through.

…

CH. 11

When Bella gets home from the dance (which was an absolute train wreck!), she overhears Charlie on the phone with Billy.

She finds out that Jake's been hurt and she calls Edward to find out if Carlisle would be willing to help.

It is on the Reservation w/Carlisle (only _he_ of all the Cullens is allowed on the lands; having Edward there would be too much a distraction from the plot, etc.) that must is revealed to Bella about the Wolves (but not the Vampires).

The Wolves have a disorder where they'll all die if they can't find a cure to prevent them from becoming Wolves from then on. (Hopefully, the audience will start to wonder if Bella's blood would have anything to do with that cure, since it turned Edward's hands mortal).

Bella doesn't know it (yet), but her blood can cure them all (even though they'll never be able to turn into Wolves again), but in order for the magic to work, she has to be willing to die for this cause.

…

CH. 12

Violet calls Bella to come over, and brings over a photo album. She _accidentally_ leaves it at Bella's house after they talk about Bella's capability to save the Wolves. Her Grandmother kind of reveals the situation: "Your blood has been spilt on this land in the presence of _something_, and if the Tribe does nothing about it then they must pay a price.

At night, Edward goes through the album. On the first page, there is a picutre of Bella and a half-faded picture of himself. One of the names has faded half way and written under the photo is writing that says: "… and Edward."

He looks through the rest of the photos, then revisits the fist page only to find his own name half faded and Bella's picture almost entirely gone too.

…

CH. 13

Edward drives Bella to the school the next day to look at her truck with her. He wishes that they could both go back in time, meet one another, and fall in love.

Bella knows that the time they have together is running out; she can feel it. She wonders of maybe she sould just give her life up to save the Wolves, and she knows that in _some_ dimension, some how, she's already lived a fulfilling, happy life. Maybe Fate wasn't intending to give her a second time to fall in love – maybe this time it was all about the business of saving lives.

Edward holds Bella's hand, and she perceives it as a human hand because of the changes that its undergone from her blood; then she pushes herself very close to him only to realize that his heart isn't beating at all, and she begins to cry. She doesn't tell him that she now believes the legends of the Cold Ones, but she does decide to save the Wolves because Violet said that as long as his heart is beating that there would be hope for them, and it's _not_ beating.

She rationalizes that the Wolves weakness/disease is her fault and she wants to remedy everything. She knows that even though it was Edward who touched her blood, he is faultless. She does scorn Jessica in her thoughts, though, for pushing her into those glasses in the first place.

…

CH. 14

Edward doesn't understand why Bella is crying. He thinks it's because she knows that something is wrong with Jacob.

Edward drops Bella off at home after assessing the damage on the truck, and she decides that there is no point in waiting to heal the Wolves.

At the same time, Edward musters up the courage to reveal that he loves her, to which Bella only cries harder. She says that she loves him too.

Edward asks if he can take her out again, maybe tomorrow night. Bella agrees, knowing that she won't be alive by tomorrow night. [Here is the angsty part, for sure]

She goes up to her room and writes Edward a letter before leaving for the Reservation.

She tells Billy, Sam, Jake, and several other boys who can now morph into Wolves and who have become sick because of it about what she can do to save them. She admits that she'll have to sacrifice her own life, to which Jake objects.

Jake: "It's our job to protect the lives of every person. It would be against our way to let _you_ die for _us_, seeing as how it's all supposed to be the other way around."

Bella: "I'm not asking your permission. Besides, you're all too weak to stop me anyway."

Jake: "Our duty…"

Bella: "Your _duty_, your _contract_, doesn't leave room for accidents. Edward didn't _mean_ to touch my blood!"

Jake: "That doesn't matter! It is what it is."

Bella: "Yeah? Well, _this_ is what it is, too."

Bella knows that all she has to do is let herself bleed to death on the Quileute's land.

She hears the waves of the ocean and she feels them_ calling_ to her, and then she hears it whisper her true name:

Ocean: _Scarlett… return home_.

She knows this means death for her.

She pulls out a knife and walks into the water, and then slits her wrists long-ways so that she has no choice but to bleed out.

Edward runs to her, sensing she'd done something awful (He'd read the letter on her desk; also, his mortality was beginning to spread through his body and he thought he'd momentarily felt his heart beating in a panicked way as he sensed something was wrong). He no longer cared about the terms of the Wolve's Treaty, and he knew they were weak and he's turning mortal anyway and it's not like mortals are subject to that contract (only Vampires, and he's convinced he's not one anymore since his hands have changed [possibly other changes too]), so he stepped onto their land.

Edward: "Why did you do this," moans desperately. The hurt in his eyes is painful for Bella to see.

He hears the Water calling Bella's true name, and then he remembers.

Edward: "Scarlett, Scarlett…"

He picks up the knife and stabs himself through his heart, and it starts beating rapidly after the knife pierces it…

…

See how stories can change? I've written stories where the entire ending was absolutely different than intended, but so it is. In this case, things were just sped up for the sake of dramatics.

Anyway, that was a glimpse into how things don't always turn out exactly as planned.

-Stephanie


End file.
